


The Shade Behind You (Don't Look Back)

by AshaCrone



Series: Fathers and cubs [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Galra are too, Identity Issues, M/M, Mpreg, Multi, No one comes out of this looking pretty, Not Season/Series 02 Compliant, Omega Shiro (Voltron), Post Mpreg, Reincarnation, Team as Family, alteans are kinda dicks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 21:40:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 41,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10052423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshaCrone/pseuds/AshaCrone
Summary: The Empire has stood for ten thousand years, lead by a monster that cannot die.No one knows why.Allura has questions, and precious few answers.Coran has answers he's afraid to share.The Paladins want a chance to go home. And Shiro and Thace try to go back to the beginning, to find the spear that can slay the beast. But looking back to the shadows can make them vanish in the light. And Shiro is afraid of his, whether he wants to admit it or not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to story 3. This one gets kinda epic. Note on pairings: if you are here for Keith and Lance, I will keep them low key because while I like them, they are not the focus pairing.

When Shiro had first met the Black Lion, he felt like he was seeing an old friend for the first time in ages.

He had been on Earth less than a day before having to leave it. He had been thrown in with Keith and three cadets he had never met, his body was unbalanced and strange, and his mind and memory resembled really expensive Swiss cheese. The lacy kind, being more holes than cheese. 

Meeting Black had felt right. Whatever else had happened to him, he found purpose in being in her pilot’s chair, free from the small hell in the pit of his belly and the back of his brain. Bonding with her had been natural. Later he would say it was like how he held his son, or how Thace held _him_. 

Then had come the moment when Zarkon had booted him out, leaving him adrift in space, and Shiro-

He had gotten her back. He had fought his way through the castle and with the help of the Princess, Hunk, and Keith, he had gotten Black back. But it was there, in the back of his mind. The fear. The caution. The worry that if they got close to Zarkon again, Shiro would be what undermined the team because Black couldn’t, or wouldn’t, resist her old Paladin.

Her throwing images into his brain had been the first contact between them in almost a month. 

Hard to believe it had barely been a few weeks since they had gotten Thace and Akira. Hard to believe it was only two days since they had rescued Sam and Matt. 

And now, he felt like he was walking to the gates of the underworld to speak with Cerberus. (Ah, the irony.)

He could feel her eyes on him. She weighed him, noting the changes in demeanor. His concern.

She knelt, opening her mouth for him board. 

He touched the inner wall, letting his flesh fingers drag over the metal as he made his way to the chair. Whatever material padded the seat felt like leather but definitely wasn’t, he decided. Still, the texture was rich and nubby like good suede. In his mind’s eye, he buried his fingers in thick, shaggy black fur. A dull, deep sound echoed through his mind. 

She was grabbing him by the scruff again, placing him in the chair.

“All right, all right!” he muttered, sitting down reaching out for the handles. “Black. There’s more that I need to know. You started to show me… something. And it made no sense. Just that I didn’t make the same choices Zarkon did. Let’s… let’s try this again. And this time… try to make it a bit more linear. Tell me about Zarkon.”

The low growl invited him to close his eyes, reaching out through Black’s senses-

_She had waited for him._

_Around her, she could feel her Pride. Blue had chosen early, easily, someone whose spirit was adaptive and outgoing, who could change and grow. Yellow had chosen someone who whose spirit supported all, willing to stand and guard in the face of great danger. Green’s choice was quick-witted, as kitten-like as herself. Red had chosen old blood. She had a type._

_Light flooded in as the great doors opened, allowing her to look into the eyes of her Paladin, her partner and friend._

_He was bright, his spirit strong as ever. He didn’t want to lead for its own sake, but because he had a crew to protect. People depended on him. If she rejected him… he would find another way. That was all there was for it._

_The figure wore the armor of the Black Paladin, and she rejoiced. Zarkon stood before her, and she lowered her head to allow him entrance-_  
  
Shiro snapped back to himself, eyes opening and slamming himself back into the seat with a gasp.

“Well. That wasn’t what I expected.”

He shook his head, trying to clear away the feeling of mass and volume, the completely different sense of time and energy that came with the perspective of being a huge mechanical cat and back into his small fleshy self. 

“Why did you show me that?” _Are you going to kick me out again?_

Her answer was a memory that had given him nightmares: Thace killing fellow prisoners who were too weak to fight back properly, who had been captives like himself. Shiro’s response had been to punch him and yell, _“Why do you have to be a monster?”_

“He wasn’t always a life devouring tyrant? Good to know. Doesn’t change the fact that he is one _now_.”

Her answer was frustration. He clearly wasn’t getting _something_ in that moment, as evidenced by the feeling of her cuffing him with her paw. 

He winced, clapping his hand on his ear. “I just want some clarification. You showed me… you showed me a lot of things. Most of them involving Zarkon and someone who looked like Allura. But it wasn’t Allura, that much was sure.” _My queen_ , he had called her. Even now, what Black had shown him had faded into an incoherent jumble. 

Black seemed to sigh around him, before he felt a ghostly snout pressed to his ear. 

“Patience yields focus?” 

Her whiskers brushed his cheek in a cat smile. 

“And like all cats, I bet you can speak. You just choose not to,” he muttered, getting to his feet when he felt her presence fade from his mind. This had been both a great success and a huge failure. For the life of him, it hadn’t made sense. “What was that? When you chose Zarkon?” 

It must have been. 

There was a loud huff behind him. The feeling of frustration hadn’t abated, just got stronger. “If you tell me I have to figure this out for myself I am going to be very upset.”

She didn’t- she didn’t use words- but she did put her head back down and open the door. The chair didn’t pull back, though. She wasn’t kicking him out.

“Okay. I’ll,” _go ask Coran some questions later_ , “leave for right now. But we have a lot of work to do.” He got to his feet. The feeling of welcome and safety hadn’t abated, and as he left, he saw a flicker out of the corner of his eyes. The switch in perspective was disorienting, but…

_Zarkon, in what had to be the equivalent of Galra jeans and a worn out band shirt, standing with the Altean who looked so much like Allura. There was a small bundle in his arms as the couple looked up at Black, making mouth sounds that had no meaning to her. Yet she could sense their joy, their love as they looked at each other and the proof of it in their arms between them._

“Gimme some warning for that, Black,” he yelped, but the meaning was clear enough. Shiro turned and smiled up at her. “I’ll bring them for you to meet next time.”

She said farewell with a quirk of her non-corporeal tail, and he left, pondering that moment.

There had been love there. That was… probably the most horrifying part about the memory that she had just shown him. At some point, Zarkon had known how to care about people. That he had changed so much was unsettling. 

Shiro got back to the door of his room, waved his hand over the sensor, and stepped inside.

Thace was no longer on the bed. Instead, his back was to the door, standing over the sink which seemed to be the source of many loud splashes and breathy squeals and coos. He had taken off the top of his coveralls again, with a thick patterned towel flung over his right shoulder, giving Shiro a great view of bare fur and his broad, muscled back.

“And so your dam, the brave Black Paladin, soared through the night in the great Voltron, to free the lost-“

_I would be happy,_ he thought, feeling a lazy, lascivious smile spread over his face, _if he never wore a shirt again._ Lance had been one hundred percent right. Strong, protective Alphas who were good with cubs were sexy as hell. Feeling frustrated and lost melted away, especially when he realized who was starring in Thace’s story.

“Decided to expand the family epic?” he asked, walking up to Thace and gliding his mechanical hand down Thace’s back. The Galra looked down at him, a faint smile on his face when Shiro stood beside him and brushed his fingers over his forearm. Shiro returned the smile and looked down at Akira. Thace was holding his head and upper body above the shallow warm water. Akira’s eyes were wide and startled at the sensation, but his gummy smile said he wasn’t frightened, instead wiggling his hands and feet in excitement at taking a bath.

“Of course. He should know your story, and Keith’s,” Thace said, carefully soaping Akira’s hair. “They are stories to be proud of.”

Shiro brushed his cheek against Thace’s arm. “And what about yours?”

“Nothing of consequence.”

“Says the celebrated General.”

“Says the Galra who has hurt and killed many people and conquered worlds.” He twitched his ears. “Your friend Matt is not wrong about me. The past should not be forgotten.”

Shiro blew through his lips and closed his eyes. His mind overlaid his first view of the Black Lion with her view of Zarkon, and the memory of Zarkon holding his own child. (He didn’t doubt that it was Zarkon’s. _That_ had been implacably, inescapably clear.) “But it doesn’t change who you are _now_ , Thace. And you are here with me, helping fight to free the universe. It just took you a little longer to get here.”

Thace grunted, before shifting his grip on Akira to rinse his hair and body. “And how did your conversation go?” he asked, changing the subject. Shiro let him. 

“Not as well as I would have liked,” he said ruefully, rubbing over the scar on his nose. “She showed me… did you know that Zarkon had a whelp?”

Thace blinked at him, picking Akira up out of the warm water. Shiro grabbed the towel that Thace had draped over his shoulder and put out his arms, taking Akira and cuddling him. “I… no. That. I.” It was rare that Thace would ever let confusion or befuddlement show, but his jaw had gone slack while his ears were forward and down. “He.” Thace tilted his head to the side. “I was in his circle of advisors before… We have nothing about this in our histories, and court gossip only remarked on his _lack_ of a sex drive. Many have tried to seduce him over the years, but none have succeeded.”

“He could just be very discreet,” Shiro pointed out.

“To what end? He is the supreme ruler of the universe. One of the perks of rank is to keep pleasure slaves, or take advantage of your subordinates. None one twitches an ear at this.” Thace’s voice, though, was laced with disgust. “We have those with no desire for sex among us, but they still desire companionship. Zarkon _has_ no cohort. Only the druidess accompanies him. Perhaps she satisfies all of his needs.” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Black would differ… but,” Shiro answered while he looked down at Akira and patting his hair and body dry. The cub was yawning, eyes drooping closed. “I think the idea of Zarkon and I having this much in common bothers me more than want to admit.”

“You are not him. _You_ are not a monster.” He leaned down to kiss Shiro and bent nearly double to nuzzle Akira. “Whatever caused Zarkon to fall, it will not happen to you. I will not allow it while I draw breath.” 

Shiro smiled at Thace as he put his half-asleep son on the desk to dress him. Thace passed Shiro first a diaper and ointment, and then footie pajamas. Eventually the cub drifted asleep completely.

“He looks like a little angel like this,” Shiro muttered, scooping him up and putting Akira into his bassinet, just watching him for a moment. 

“Oh yes.” Thace sounded nostalgic. “And then he wakes you up in the middle of the night because he’s hungry and fussy and you haven’t gotten enough sleep for weeks and you wonder why you ever did this.” He checked the heating function on the bassinet, and made sure the sound baffles were activated. “And then watching him crawl and walk and learn and…” He trailed off.

Shiro reached with his mechanical hand, running his thumb along Thace’s jawline, and to the back of his neck to coax him down for another kiss.

One was never enough, of course, and before long they were closing the bassinet and moving away from the sleeping cub. Shiro’s shirt and vest were pulled over his head, Thace’s coveralls shoved down, both of them out of their shoes and just enjoying touching fur and skin, brushing lips over scars and ears and chins and palms. Shiro was kissed the corner of Thace’s right eye, reaching between his legs to find Thace was already hard. 

He was tired, and Thace hadn’t gotten a chance to rest yet, so he just laid back and spread his legs, and Thace responded by covering his body with his own. His size stung, just a little, but Thace took things slowly and sweetly and…

~*~*~*~*~*~

_The Altean-blood let out a blood-curdling shriek as her face was forced into the bowl of porridge in front of her. Her limbs flailed, cracking the table but not quite able to get the leverage she needed to get to her feet._

_The pure-bloods behind her were cackling, hurling slurs, hissing and cracking their jaws like she was prey. It made Zarkon roll his eyes as he got to his feet._

_They didn’t notice him at first, but they did notice the rest of the mess hall go quiet as he approached. He reached out, grabbing the piebald asshole by the scruff of his neck and threw him off and to the floor. Around him, his cohort and cronies and fans all hissed and bristled, but Zarkon was not bothered. They would not attack him, not with his own cohort as backup and the officers just outside the door. No, they would content themselves to pick on this newcomer, who didn’t know the rules or how yet to fight back._

_He tilted his head to the door, and he ignored the pounding of feet as his cohort circled around. They were less than the other group, but they were not pushovers like these cowards. It disgusted him, to see his own people acting like barbarians, especially towards an Altean-blood, who would doubtless let others of her kind know. They didn’t need to lose face now, not when they had been told Altean royalty was coming here._

_“Leave her be, Achili,” he said, crossing his arms. “If she was chosen as a candidate for one of the Lions, then she has just as much a right to be here as you.”_

_“Her very presence here is an insult,” the smaller Galra growled, getting to his feet. “Alteans can’t be trusted. They lie even with their forms.” He spat. “They, and those of Altean blood, are not worthy of the honor. They cannot be strong enough to pilot!”_

_“Then let her fail. Surely if she is not strong enough, the Lions will ignore her as much as they will ignore you,” Zarkon said, a growl making his chest rumble. “Now go. Get out of my sight.”_

_He felt, more than saw, his cohort step closer to back him, and Achili’s friends ran as soon as he did. Foolish, the whole lot of them. He shook his head in frustration, before turning to look at the Altean-blood, who was swearing under her breath._

_“I could have handled it,” the queen muttered, wiping the porridge from her face. “I didn’t need your help.”_

_“Oh, surely.” Zarkon looked down at her. She wasn’t quite as scrawny as he had thought, though it was hard to tell with Altean-bloods. He couldn’t tell if this was her natural body or an affection she had adopted. But her skin was a healthy shade of violet, with white hair and pointed ears, even if she was shorter than he was. “That is why you were caught of guard, to give him a false sense of security?”_

_She grunted at him. “I didn’t ask for your help.”_

_“And that is why you aren’t safe. Learning to fight and work with a team is part of why we are here.” He turned to his cohort, and he could see them start to eye the Altean-blood in curiosity. He had gotten to know his friends in the time he had been here, and together they went to work. Zarkon grabbed her tray of porridge and took it to the recyclers, while Agamen Kiera found a fresh one. Marmora Castor went to get a cleaning bot. Lant Jazo gave the Altean-blood a handful of napkins and started picking the grains out of her hair._

_“This isn’t necessary,” she bit out as Zarkon’s cohort settled around her. “You don’t have to help me.”_

_“We are expecting Altean royalty soon,” Zarkon said. “And we can’t have you talking badly about us.” She went quiet, frowning hard. “So, who are you?”_

_She huffed and crossed her arms, tilting up her chin. “The next Black Paladin.”_

_“Impatient. That is why you lack focus. What is your name?” Zarkon asked._

_She looked away. “It’s… meaningless to you. You can call me Al.”_

_“Very well, ‘Al.’ I am Euride Zarkon. Welcome to the Temple of the Lion Riders.”_

__

~*~*~*~*~*~

Keith woke up.

The bed was cold.

There had been a time when that wasn’t so strange; he hadn’t been a virgin before but after getting kicked out of the Garrison he had gotten to know his right hand a little too well. But it had been something like a month since he had slept alone. Whatever Lance may say about Keith’s own sleeping habits, Lance himself sprawled out and took up more space than seemed humanly possible.

Okay. Maybe he had to take a piss?

But Keith couldn’t hear him in the bathroom. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the faint hum of the ship. And it wasn’t like Lance to be quiet _anywhere_.

Being an Alpha came with its own set of problems. The increased strength and stamina were great, as were the heightened senses. Yet feeling like he had to constantly be on guard, protective instincts jacked up, the possibility of going into rut all meant that betas held them to be little more than wild animals and some Omegas rightfully terrified when they went into heat. 

So while he knew that Lance was probably all right, and he should give him some space, he was out the door in his stocking feet, breaking into a jog to check Lance’s room, then the lounge and the kitchen. No dice.

Hunk would be puttering in the kitchen when he was upset. Pidge would be working on sorting through the information to find her family- but they had been found, so _that_ pattern had probably changed- while Shiro would exercise when he couldn’t sleep. (Another pattern changed. He was sleeping better now that he had Mr. Thace… Grandfather… Grand Thace? Stupid sleepy brain)

Lance… Keith flushed because he really didn’t know what Lance did when he was upset. He really sucked at the whole consoling thing. He considered soothing Akira a major victory. 

The Castle was enormous, but most of them stuck to specific areas of the ship, and most of those were the Paladins’ wing, which had their living areas. Heating and maintaining an atmosphere in parts of the ship no one visited was a waste of resources. So it was unlikely that Lance had gone to, say, staff quarters or something else they hadn’t visited before. (How the mice managed to explore so much of the ship was a mystery. But they weren’t exactly _normal_ mice.)

His instincts were whispering that he should do a full visual check, make sure everyone was breathing. He tried to soothe himself with not finding any invaders, predators or rival Alphas on board. There was no recent pain-scent. No recent blood. But Lance’s scent was so strong (he couldn’t help it, even with the implants he still hadn’t used a diffuser in months) that finding a direction to follow was almost impossible. 

Eventually pure process of elimination sent Keith to bridge. The door opened… and Keith stopped. 

Lance was there, amidst the bright spots of light of the star map, but he wasn’t alone. He smelled of distress and salt, his eyes were puffy, but he had a large paddle brush in his hand as he drew it through Allura’s endless cloud of white hair. 

She… really was doing far, far worse, as far as he could tell.

Her back was too him, so he couldn’t see her face, but her distress-scent flooded the room. It was bitter and acrid and close enough to Galra that he had no trouble recognizing it. She had a headband on, but the rest of her hair was unbound, falling over her shoulders and pooling on the floor. 

Lance caught Keith’s eye. “Hey. Um. Just… kinda throwing a homesick party here.”

“Oh.” Keith blinked at them. “Oh. Okay.” His tongue was stuck and his throat went dry as he tried to think of what to do. No one was physically in danger. So. He couldn’t fix anything. So.

“Hey. You don’t have to go,” Lance said, waving him over. Keith didn’t budge, because… really. This wasn’t his thing. “I’d feel better if you were here.”

And now it would take a crowbar to get him to leave.

He walked over, kneeling beside both of them. Lance had brought his primp-things, which Keith understood like he understood deep sea life forms: usually with a great deal of confusion, disbelief, and curiosity. But he had listened to Lance’s talk, so he could guess the purpose of the small bags of herbs that smelled like tea covering her eyes were to bring down puffiness, and the white paste coating her skin was to make it soft. 

He took a deep breath. “Are you two…”

“Oh, I woke up feeling kinda… and you were sleeping pretty good, so decided to go for a walk,” Lance said, never stopping as he brushed Allura’s hair. “And Allura was here when I got here. Hey.” He used the handle of the brush to break up her mass of hair into three pieces. “I don’t have enough ties. So hold these.” Keith did so, taking Allura’s hair into his hands. It was heavy, much thicker than he would have assumed, but smooth like a kitten’s. 

He realized he was purring and tried to swallow it down.

“You don’t have to stop,” Allura said, finally speaking. “You cannot choose your blood, and it is a soothing sound.” Her own breathing changed, before hitching and wheezing in her chest. “I- I am sorry you have found me in such a state, Keith.”

“Nah, you’re fine, Princess,” Lance interrupted. “I needed someone to test this on.”

She chuckled a bit, but it sounded more like her mice running across the floor. 

“What happened?” Keith asked, and he was vaguely surprised he could still talk and breathe while purring. He hadn’t really tried before. 

“I needed… some air.”

“Okay.” So. No prying. Fair enough.

Lance took one of the pieces of hair and started braiding it, and if Keith hadn’t been looking he wouldn’t have noticed the tremble in his hands, and his eyes were distant. Keith scooted closer, wanting to wrap himself around him, make him feel safe. 

“Keith,” Allura said, voice breaking on the vowel. “I, I have a question for you.” Her fingers tightened on her knees and the mice squeaked. 

“Shoot.” He let the purr continue, because he could smell Lance’s distress lessen. 

He wondered what the translator told her because she paused for a long time. “If you could undo the effects of the nano-virus, would you? Do you ever feel like the face looking back at you is wrong?”

Keith blinked a few times. “I… sometimes,” he admitted, dropping to a whisper. “Sometimes I wondered if I was adopted, when I was a kid. Dad and Mom promised me no, and the dagger was proof. All of Mom’s family in the States was dead by the time I was born, and all the family she had left were some distant cousins in Japan and Korea, and none of them were interested in taking me. I think I might like it, looking like Dad’s family. Grandfather… I like him.”

“But you couldn’t go home again,” Lance said, softly. 

“I never had much of a home on Earth, after Mom died. Shiro was the closest thing and he’s here.”

Lance was quiet, before answering. “Shiro really can’t go back to Earth either.”

“Well, all of that depends on how well we can keep your Earth clear of the war,” Allura said. “We are going to need allies. While your home galaxy is a backwater to the rest of the universe, I don’t know how it can stay untouched for much longer.”

Lance winced. “Not sure if that’s helping, Princess.”

“You wish to return?”

For a moment, Keith thought he was going to try to bluff or posture, say that no, he was tough, he was just fine- but he crumbled. 

“I- yeah. My family is there. I just want to know they’re okay. Mom and Ma and Pa… I can’t imagine what they’re going through if they believe I’m dead. My sibs, too. Hunk’s family is kinda small, just his mom and big sister, but he’s got loads and loads of aunts and uncles and cousins. None of them know what happened to us. I mean, even if Pidge’s dam guessed what happened… she still thinks her whole family is gone.”

Keith put his chin on Lance’s shoulder. “Shiro has a mother and a brother back on Earth. He has a reason go to back.”

“Yeah, but… but he has Akira, and Thace ain’t exactly someone you can bring home to Momma.” He finished braiding the long piece of hair and passed it to Keith to hold. 

“I don’t know. I’ve met Shirogane Ayumi. She would probably try to get Grandfather drunk first and then decide if he was worthy of her son. She’s… um… _opinionated_.”

Lance laughed. “My dam is pretty polite but my Ma will kick your ass if you do something she disapproves of. Pa’s pretty laid back. They balance each other out.”

Keith felt a smile cross his face. “What was your mom like, Allura? I mean, we talked a little about mine but you…” Together he and Lance flinched as her face dropped forward, the small teabags dropping off her face, before she straightened and flashed them a smile.

“Oh. Everyone says I looked just like… her. My- my mother was remarkable. He-she- did everything with me. But… but I don’t know how well I really, really knew… her. My… mother… never really talked about what h-her life was like before I was born. Sometimes, my m-mother would talk about piloting. H-she was the Red Paladin before you, Keith.” Allura licked her lips. “I never got to know …her… as a person.” She looked down at her hands, which had clenched on her knees. “I sometimes think… I never really knew her at all.”

Lance kept braiding her hair. Keith bit his lip; the tea bags had hidden eyes that still gleamed with tears.  
“What happened to her?”

“I don’t know. She died in the war, but I never was told… exactly… how she died,” Allura said, light and wispy as smoke. “I just wish we had had more time.”

Keith exhaled, cuddling against Lance until he finished braiding Allura’s hair, then twisted it into a crown around her head. 

She didn’t say anything else. None of them could find anymore words to say. 

All that was left for the moment was to try to ignore the shadows.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_“She was right, you know,” Alfor said to Coran. He was staring down at the cryopod that held his daughter, face haggard from the exhaustion of a half-dozen wormhole jumps in a row._

_“About what?”_

_“I gave up hope.” He laughed, once, before staggering forward. Coran barely caught him and lowered them both to the deck. “I should have fought harder. I could have saved us, saved them. Saved him.”_

_“You did your duty, your Majesty,” Coran answered. “Hindsight is, well, perfect.”_

_Alfor laughed again, but there was no humor in it. He was staring out into space. “I need to speak to the Black Lion. She may be able to help me.”_

_Coran was silent. Shocked. “You can’t be serious.”_

_“_ That thing _is out there right now, making a mockery of who Zarkon used to be.” Alfor turned to Coran. “You should go into one of the pods. Allura will need someone, when she awakens.”_

_Coran crossed his legs. “What is the point? The war is lost, your Majesty. The Galra have killed us. There’s nothing for her to awaken_ to. _”_

_“We killed them first. It’s just taking them a longer time to realize it. I’ll set the pods to come out of stasis with the Castle should the Lions find new Paladins.”_

_“And what if I don’t want to do it, you condescending ass?” Coran snapped. “What if I don’t want to outlive you and everyone else?”_

_“I’m not giving you a choice,” Alfor answered, and reached out, sending Coran to sleep the same way he had sent Allura. His old friend collapsed in a heap, even as Alfor staggered to his feet._

_He looked out into the endless night, and down to the pod that held Allura. “Forgive me, daughter.” He looked at Coran. “There needs to be a reckoning, between the witch and I. And I doubt I will survive.” He picked Coran up. “My friend. I’m sorry.”_


	2. Chapter 2

_The Emperor stood in the circle of runes, suspended in space as the druids circled around._

_Haggar watched as he stood there, surrounded by the force of the magic of the runes. His mind was still, but seething, waiting, testing each link, searching for any chink in the spell surrounding him. A tight smile drew her lips up; he had never found a fault in her magic before._

_He never would, either._

_Had his soul remained, it would have shrieked and wailed as he knelt to press his hands to the floor, but souls were useless things. Her own was little more than a ragged, withered collar around her neck. The price of immortality had been high, but she was more than willing to pay it for power and revenge._

_“Go,” she cried, joining the circle of druids, watching as the Emperor’s jaw tightened. There was only one direction for him go to in, hemmed in as he was. So he flung himself forward, searching for the Black-_

~*~*~*~

Waking up felt like he was dragging himself through an avalanche of pebbles.

He wasn’t quite sure what had done it, as he looked around. He was in one of the rooms in the Castle. It was his; he could smell himself and his mate. 

He could feel his mate’s breath on the back of his neck, warm and soft. Across the room their little one purred and cooed through dreams. 

He didn’t know what had awoken him, but his bladder told him quickly that falling back asleep was not happening. The room was quiet, still, safe. He could sense Black, and her calm protectiveness towards her pride. Through her, he could sense the other Lions, and, dimly, his team. Together. Unharmed. 

He rolled to his feet, pulling free of his mate’s embrace, easing out from under the covers. The slightly cooler, still air of the room washed over his nude body as he got to his feet. Gently, he passed one hand over the bassinet that cradled their child. 

So, so beautiful. 

He was about to reach down, to tousle that smooth, silky hair when he stopped, catching sight of something dreadfully, dreadfully wrong.

That wasn’t his hand. 

Panic made his throat close, confusion that somehow, this was all wrong, this was not real. He turned to the mirror.

The face in front of him was not his own. The eyes were the same: glowing, solid yellow with barely any difference between the iris and pupil. The rest of his face was alien: pale, with black hair and white forelock, behind a long scar-

It wasn’t him. It wasn’t _Zarkon-_

_Holy shit-_

Shiro woke up.

He was still in bed, with Thace spooned up against him, purr-snoring in his ear. For one terrifying moment, he thought Thace’s arm was his own, and he was actually Galra. But then he saw his own flesh, and his mechanical hand and- well. He had never thought he would be _happy_ to see that. 

He let his head drop to the pillow.

“Are you well?” Thace said softly. Shiro rolled over to face him, and blinked as he looked into his Galra’s face.

In that instant he expected a different face entirely, and it left him feeling unsettled. The face was different and the same but was different. 

“Yes.” He took a deep breath. “Odd dream.” As of right now, it meant nothing. Just… strange. “I was Zarkon needing to pee while wearing no pants.” The only thing lacking was the math test.

Thace’s ears twitched. “Hm. Food not agree with you?” He was mumbling the words, eyes bleary as he tried to stay awake. Shiro felt bad for waking him; he hadn’t slept since coming out of the ‘refresher. Despite the exhaustion, though, many of the stern lines on his face had eased, leaving him looking peaceful and younger. 

Shiro smiled at him as his heart skipped. 

“More like Black’s visions are strange,” Shiro answered. He reached out and absently scratched through Thace’s mane, watching his eyes shut in pleasure. “Go back to sleep.”

Thace did so easily, too tired to notice anything amiss. Seeing him resting without some of his old burdens… 

Shiro exhaled. He wanted to drink in this moment, bask and never let go. The constant anxiety and terror of the gladiator matches had given way to a weird, twilight purgatory during his pregnancy. That they would get a few moments like this was a gift. 

He promised himself to never, ever waste them. 

He leaned in, gently breathing in Thace’s face to nip his chin, running his thumb under his jaw. “Love you.”

Thace’s answer was to purr, curling up on himself in the space Shiro had vacated as he got off the bed.

The dream had been correct about one thing. Shiro’s bladder was about to pop as he eased off the bed and went to the bathroom to take care of it. 

Once that was handled, he grabbed his pants. 

He was still unsettled enough that he didn’t think he could fall back asleep. He considered heading to the training room- he didn’t want to start exercising in here and risk waking both Thace and Akira- when he heard that tell-tale gasp and soft whine.

Shiro chuckled, and grabbed his pajama shirt and pulled it over his head before looking down into Akira’s bassinet. Sure enough, his son was awake and looking grumpy.

“Not been that long since you- ah. Okay.” He grimaced, checking Akira and, yup, wet diaper. Thankfully nothing else was wet, and it was _just_ wet. 

He wasn’t as efficient as Thace, but he managed. But it didn’t look like Akira felt like going back to sleep, either.

“Okay, Little Guy,” he whispered. “Let’s let the Big Guy sleep, and we can go walk around a bit.”

~*~*~*~

Matt had gone into the lounge in the early morning just… well, the four walls of his room had gotten too small.

Part of him had been concerned that the door wouldn’t open. He had almost cried when it did.

Yet he _seriously_ reconsidered his decision when he saw Takashi there, speaking in a sing-song mother-ese as he bounced his squealing, grinning cub. Matt stood there for a moment, and Takashi froze when he saw him, drawing the protesting cub to his chest.

“Um.”

Takashi put a very polite, outside-face-smile on. It didn’t come close to his eyes. “Matt. Good to see you.”

Oh fuck. “Good to see you too.” Pause. They eyed each other. “What are you doing up?” 

“Had a weird dream.” He pressed his nose to the cub’s hair. “And then this little guy decided sleep was for the weak. Thace was pretty exhausted from, well,” and red bloomed on his cheeks. “Everything. So I brought Aki-kun out here.” He gave the cub a bounce, making him grin and drool. “You?”

Matt licked his lips, and cautiously walked to one of the sofas, sitting down and bringing his feet up and hugging his knees. “Felt like exercising my right as a free man to wander a bit.” He looked down. “Um. So.”

“So.” The silence stretched out between them.

“Can’t decide if this is more like Star Wars or Doctor Who, some days,” Matt finally blurted out. “Have you run into anything like the Weeping Angels?”

Takashi shuddered, then coughed a laugh. “No. The Druids kinda come close, but… “ He shuddered again. “But, if we’re making comparisons, why restrict ourselves to those two?”

“What else would fit?”

“Green Lantern, or some other comic book universe.”

“Well, Zarkon does seem like a good counterpart for Darkseid.”

Takashi flinched, then looked away. “Don’t know about that. But… I don’t think Zarkon wanted the anti-life equation.”

That was a weird way to put it. 

“And you are sort of a Lantern now,” Matt pointed out.

“I am not a dead villain returned from the dead to fffff- to mess with the living.” He looked down at Akira, who was watching them both with bright eyes. Matt started laughing. Takashi snorted. “He’s going to learn enough swearing soon enough. I want to put it off while I can.”

“Okay, okay. You aren’t a Black Lantern! But you really screw it up by your Lion not matching.”

Takashi rolled his eyes. “Right. Okay. The other Paladins-“

Matt hummed, rubbing his chin. “Keith strikes me as a good Red Lantern, all passion and temper. Lance… y’know, hope kinda works for him. From what Katie told me, Hunk is sort of a chicken-“

“That wasn’t how the Sinestro Corp worked, and he’s just not afraid of showing when he’s frightened,” Takashi insisted. Matt felt a lopsided smile crease his face. “Hunk doesn’t instill fear in anyone. He’s the most huggable person in the Universe. Indigo Tribe, or nothing.”

“Okay, and Pidge would make a pretty good Green Lantern too,” Matt suggested. Takashi nodded in agreement.

“Allura… she’s a hard one to pin down,” Takashi said, letting his head tilt back. The cub was looking up at him, and flailed his arms to get Takashi’s attention. He looked down and offered the shiny fingers of his metal hand for him to touch. “She’s very compassionate, she’s got a very strong will, she refuses to let go of hope- Blue Lantern, too? Hm.”

“Well, we’ve got about half of the spectrum. We need a Star Sapphire, Sinestro Corp and Orange Lantern, but no one here seems to fit avarice,” Matt said. He grinned suddenly at Takashi. “You’d make a pretty good Star Sapphire.”

“Ha, ha. You just want to see me in the boots.” But Takashi was smiling at him, and that was what mattered.

Matt snickered. 

“Thace might, though,” Takashi said thoughtfully after a moment, as the cub slobbered on his fingers. 

Matt fought to keep the frown off his face as Takashi pondered. For a moment, it was almost as if they were back on Earth. For a moment, he could ignore the cub in Takashi’s lap and just… enjoy how things used to be. 

“He’s not the right shade of purple.”

“Hm. I’ve seen him kill, but never been cruel. He dotes on Akira, and he loved his other kids,” Takashi explained. A soft smile spread over Takashi’s face, followed by a small shiver. “He treats me… very well.” The red crawled back up his neck and cheeks, his mind clearly going to places that Matt found squicky. “ _Very_ well.”

“I’ve already had the TMI of all TMI’s, Takashi,” Matt griped. “Can you _not_ bring _that_ up?”

Takashi looked away and down. “I’m sorry. That was… we weren’t thinking. Just that no one was likely to be around.”

“Well I was.” Matt fingered his neck, good feelings gone cold. “Then you-“

“You stabbed my fiancé,” Takashi replied, voice sharp. “Then you kicked him when he tried to protect me. I just… I couldn’t let… I couldn’t let someone try to hurt him or take him away from me, or take me from him.” He pulled the cub tighter to his chest, who was looking at Matt and trying to smile at him. To get Matt to smile back.

Matt looked away. He wasn’t sure how to feel at that moment, but it was… no. 

“Akira’s going to have the happiest life we can give him,” Takashi said firmly. “And free of the Empire.”

Matt stared at him. “Where? You can’t take him back to Earth. Hell, he’ll never get to live there.” He tilted his head. “Takashi. You aren’t bothered by the fact that- this- whatever it is- is probably some kind of Stockholm syndrome? What could you _possibly_ have in common with an alien?”

“We both like history, we both like exploring the universe; we’ve taught each other our languages. I beat him at checkers, he beat me at whatever the local equivalent of Mah Jong was. I’m still learning new things about him, and he’s doing the same with me. I trust him to cover my back like no one else. We make gorgeous cubs.” He tickled the cub’s ear, who sniggered and flailed his arms. “Matt. I never liked you like that. You were part of my pack, my family, but just not like _that_. I’m sorry if I lead you on. I still want to be friends with you.” He didn’t quite smile. “Think I can have a discussion on comics with Thace? He listens but he can’t argue the finer points at all.”

Matt felt his eyes sting. “Takashi…” His heart ached. “Give me some time. Being friends might be hard now.”

Takashi grimaced. He didn’t look at Matt for a while, instead spreading out a patterned blanket and putting the cub down on his belly. That resulted in lots of excited flailing and grunts of effort to lift his head and upper body.

“That’s fair. I wish we had been honest with each other from the beginning,” Takashi said. He stopped, and lifted his eyes to meet Matt’s dead on. “Thace can handle his own battles. You insult him, I’ll let him deal with it as he likes. But.” He smiled, and it made Matt’s balls wanted to crawl up inside his body. “ _But_. You insult Akira, you dare imply that he is less because he’s a half-breed, or even make a motion towards hurting him? Even with words?” His cyborg hand started to glow, and the smile became more of a baring of teeth. “I’ll rip out your lungs.”

Matt swallowed, dropping his eyes. He realized, that in that moment he had been completely wrong in his assessment of Takashi. He was no Green Lantern.

The Sinestro Corp member was right in front of him.

~*~*~*~*~

Thace woke up that morning feeling both groggy as hell, and lighter than he had in a while.

Shiro was gone, but he vaguely remembered him taking Akira and leaving. Part of him felt guilty because, well, Shiro wasn’t all _that_ comfortable with Akira yet. The other part of him reveled in having the entire bed to himself and being able to _stretch_. (Then he had found himself hugging Shiro’s pillow and waking up because the soft scent of milk and sweat and contentment had faded, and Thace felt cold from more than just lack of body heat.) 

So he had gotten up and pulled on coveralls and a robe, wandered in to find a small crowd surrounding Akira, cheering for his son as he managed to lift his head. 

He sat down beside Shiro and let his head drop on Shiro’s shoulder. He hadn’t even bothered to put on shoes, and pulled his feet up on the sofa and let his eyes shut.

“ _Your son_ just lifted his head and smiled at us,” Shiro said. Despite sounding a little bit frustrated, he rubbed Thace’s jaw and kissed his ear. Thace purred in response.

“Saw it yesterday.” Everyone else shrieked that he hadn’t told them. “It was late. You were busy.” He chuckled and ignored Shiro’s poke to his ribs. “He is growing fast.” Thace’s eyes were still closed, just reveling in the smell of Shiro feeling happy and excited.

“He is.” Shiro pressed his cheek to the top of Thace’s head. 

“Oh god you two are so married,” Lance said. Thace cracked open one eye to see that Lance was draped over Keith, eyes half shut, chin on his head. Thace cocked his ear while Keith snorted.

Soon Hunk announced breakfast, and everyone went in to help- and Shiro deposited Akira in Thace’s lap. He let himself fall to the side and curl up, pulling Akira to his neck.

He heard a voice whisper his name-

_“Is Thace okay?”_

_“Not abnormal. But he doesn't have Clan with him-“_

_“Hey!”_

_“Okay, not a_ large _Clan. Alteans and humans cry for the same reasons. It helps level out emotions. Galra touch and purr and wail together to get the same kind of catharsis. Helps with mourning. He’s psychically exhausted.”_

_“How many does he need?”_

_“Oh, not that many. Usually just their mates and litter mates. It's kind of taboo to burden your offspring with that kind of thing.”_

Both Shiro and Keith were quiet as he listened to the clank of platters and serving ware placed on the table. 

To his surprise, it was Lance who asked the next question. _“How many are in a litter, and how many mates?”_

_“That depends. Cohorts become prides and that can be anywhere from three… My great-grandfather was in a pride of ten. My litter was five. I think the record was twenty-five, but they lost the runts so twenty-three.”_

_“Huh. Shiro, hope you like multiples.”_

_“Worry about that later. Coran, he doesn’t have that here. Anything I- we- can do to help?”_

_“You already have.”_

_“Could we find his litter? I mean-“_ and he was surprised to hear Pidge chime in. 

_“His littermate, his sister, is the only one alive, but he was one of eight. The rest… didn’t make it,”_ Shiro said, just before a large platter dropped on the table and Coran laughed sheepishly, and the smell of distress filled the room.

_“Ouch,”_ Lance said. _“Someone’s got it out for this guy’s family.”_

_“Yes.”_ And Shiro sounded sad. Thace twitched- he really didn’t want them pitying him- but he fell deeper into sleep as Akira purred back at him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

_Al grinned fiercely through her training helmet as she lifted her energy shield._

_She stood back to back with Zarkon, breathing hard as they both worked to block the energy blasts raining in on all sides. The rest of their training team had fallen already (largely because no one had been willing to guard Achili, and his efforts had been lackluster at best)_

_“So, you seem to enjoy watching my ass,” she said conversationally to the big Galra, making him jump and almost miss the next bolt._

_“Well, part of being in a team is watching each other’s asses,” he answered, slightly out of breath. He had a lot more area to cover. “The better a team cooperates, the better off everyone’s asses are.” He flung one arm out to catch a bolt she had nearly missed. “And you should_ focus _in the middle of a training exercise!”_

_She chuckled; she felt a little giddy eve as her arm flung around, faster and faster and-_

_“Well, I do happen to enjoy watching yours-“_

_She swore, viciously, when a bolt got through, sending her through the floor with the others, and Zarkon landed a second later._

_All around them were the rest of their training group, looking foul tempered. They were lead out for the next team to start- Agamen Kiera winked at her a she came in- and the drill instructor started to tell them exactly, in great detail, that flirting was not something they should be doing while training._

_“But how could we have been looking at each other’s asses when we were doing the best covering each other’s… sir?” she asked._

_She could feel, even if she didn’t see, Zarkon rolling his eyes._

_“I know you are from a species of hedonistic, furless, fruit-eating, flower-picking-“_

_Al tuned him out. It was a rant she had heard often enough in the few months she had been here. She just hoped that-_

_“And I don’t care_ who _your sister is, you will not be allowed to sass authority!” the old drill instructor said, crossing her arms. “Now you are going to report to latrine duty for the next week before lights out! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?”_

_Al opened her mouth to protest, but Zarkon poked her and gave a crisp, parade ground-perfect salute-_

_… so she followed suit, pressing her lips together as the drill instructor nodded at her and turned briskly on her heel and left._

_The rest of the training group disbanded. She could feel the dirty looks thrown her way._

_“They aren’t entirely wrong, you know,” Zarkon said, as the trudged to the locker rooms. “We weren’t trying to help the rest of the team, just each other. That’s not something a team can always afford.”_

_Al made a face. “Right. Like I really want to help Achili.”_

_“You have to put those feelings aside, future Black Paladin,” he told her, tilting his head in amusement. “You have no control over who the Lions will chose. None of us do. So you may be forced to work with someone you cannot stand, and do it well.”_

_“Yuck.” She stuck her tongue out at the thought._

_“Indeed. The thought is distasteful. I would sooner mate with a yepper.”_

_Now she wrinkled her nose. “That’s… um…”_

_He chuckled at her discomfort. Much the same way he had chuckled when she had walked in on him, Castor and Kiera in the middle of a mutual wank session, with Jazo sitting in the corner, studying, like it was no big deal. She had changed from purple to deep red and almost run away when she had been invited to join them._

_“I would not mate a yepper. They haven’t enough sentience to be interesting,” he assured her, and she found herself losing the brashness that had let her tease him in the ring. “But you are welcome to join us.”_

_Her carefully maintained purple coloring darkened. She had known, intellectually, that cohorts could be sexual. “I’m… flattered. But I’m still going through some culture shock.” Because Alteans were monogamous for life. On top of that, she might still have to make a political marriage at some point. “I hope you are not offended.”_

_Zarkon shrugged. “None is taken.”_

_She hugged herself and huffed. And that was the thing. He was so damn casual about it. She didn’t want to just be part of a group. She didn’t want to just be available for a_ cohort _, even if she appreciated her relationship with the others. She wanted him to look at_ her _, and only_ her _, and-_

_And when did this crush turn so serious?_

_“And who is your sister?”_

_Oh quiznak._

_“My sister… um… she’s full Altean. And she is the, um, head to my… er, family’s business,” she said, sweating. “She has a lot of political pull.” The sweat beaded and poured down her forehead. “I’m… just a nobody, compared to her. That’s… that’s why I’m here at all. I’m just- the spare, to her heir.”_

_His golden eyes pinned her to the deck, weighing and judging. She felt like he was unzipping her skin to feel out everything inside._

_“Fine. But when you feel like telling me the truth, I will no judge you,” he said after a few moment._

_Al allowed herself to start breathing again._

~*~*~*~*~

Keith had been watching Grandfather throughout breakfast, still curled up on the couch and sleeping. Through mutual agreement, they had left him there, even if Hunk had fetched a blanket to drape over him and Akira. Lance had gotten two plates and loaded them with food for later, and they had all started clearing the breakfast dishes.

Keith settled down on the floor in front of Grandfather, and let himself start purring. It joined the soft rolling vibration that came off of Akira and Thace both in a soothing, almost hypnotizing way. Shiro took up the spot next to Thace’s head, easing under so Thace was on his lap and he could finger-comb his hair. He could feel the eyes of the rest of the Paladins on them, and Lance was the next to act, ambling over and sitting next to Keith, head on his shoulder. Pidge shrugged to herself, got her laptop and sat on the other side of Shiro. 

To Keith’s immense surprise, Allura sat beside him, and Coran next to her. Allura looked much better than she had earlier, though how much of that was due to Lance’s skin potions or to feeling better he had no idea. But being in the presence of so much purring seemed to ease her, too. 

Hunk came out of the kitchen and just beamed at them all, before finding a spot beside Pidge. Sam just shook his head, following Matt as he left.

Soft voices mixed with the purring, talking about their plans for the day, what missions they could start doing. Maybe contact the Resistance. Or maybe see how far they really were from Earth. 

Keith thought he could understand, with the weight of his friends ( _his family_ ) around him, why Lance missed Earth so badly. He hadn’t had this feeling since he was eight years old.  


Of course, that was the moment the Galra forces, with Zarkon’s command ship, found them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next few updates may take awhile. I'm in a play in a foreign language along with being in a speech contest next week. So expect next chapter in 2 to 3 weeks-ish.


	3. Chapter 3

_Once upon a time, Haggar had been asked what she saw in the future._

_Many in her family were capable of seeing the future in their dreams, and hers were always the same. She was holding a beautiful child in her arms, and looking up at a handsome, white haired man and knowing, without question, that this was the king of Altea. He held the hand of his daughter, face lost in shadow as he gazed at her adoringly._

_As a child she had romanticized it. She was going to meet the king and fall in love and they would be together and happy and everyone would love their children. Her family had been_ thrilled _by this revelation- they had ambition- and had made sure to get her initiated as an acolyte of the royal priesthood as soon as possible. Haggar had taken to magic easily, her hair bleaching due to the use of quintessence despite herself. Her vanity had insisted that she dye it black again._

 _She had learned_ everything _there was to know about the Heir. Favorite foods, music, media, hobbies- the Heir was an amazing person, charismatic and fierce. Foran was loved by all Alteans, but Haggar was going to be the one to win the Heir’s heart._

_So she had ignored the Spare. Not that this was the Spare’s name, of course, or even the official title. Alphae had a rebellious streak, determined to live a life outside of expectations._

_Haggar didn’t care for Alphae._

_Because of her certainty in her dream, Haggar had chosen her gender very young. She was going to be the mother to the next Monarch, after all._

_It didn’t occur to her that Foran, the Heir, would choose to be female as well… or that Alphae, the Spare, would follow her._

_Nothing in her dreams had indicated this. Yet for a few precious years, her vision of the future had drifted into faint and hazy, like a strong wind might scatter it. And that was helped along by having fallen helplessly, stupidly, in love with Foran, who was everything she had ever wanted. Even more, Foran returned her love just as deeply. So Haggar chose to forget her vision and focus on her dream: mastering magic, marrying Foran and gaining prominence for her family. What she saw when she slept evaporated when she woke up next to Foran._

_“Haggar!” Foran called, and cackled, pausing to blink as she stepped out of the dark temple and into the bright daylight of the courtyard. Haggar, who had been standing beneath the Great Tree and rubbing her hands together, tossed a smile back at her, putting a finger to her lips for quiet. Foran stopped, slapping her hands over her mouth._

_The Great Tree had been a symbol of Altea ever since the founding of the kingdom. It had survived for Ages with the help of the priests, who had donated life energy to it every year. Now, she had been assigned the honor, and the duty, of giving up a few of her precious years to extend its life._

_But Haggar had a different idea._

_Foran’s eyes went huge as the vegetation around Haggar’s feet turned black and withered, their life force flowing through her into the Great Tree._

_“Haggar,” Foran said slowly, falling to her knees, picking one of the wizened blooms. “You just… you killed all of those juniberries.”_

_Haggar dismissed her with a flick of the hand. “Yes, and it meant I didn’t have to donate this year.” At Foran’s stricken expression, Haggar blew through her lips. “They’re_ flowers _, Foran. They would have been gone in a few weeks anyways. They’ll come back next year.”_

_“But how could that equal the quintessence from a person?”_

_She smiled. Haggar had been proud of_ that _little bit of brilliance. “The_ bulbs _. Juniberries produce dozens of bulbs that can be new plants! That produced enough quintessence that I might even volunteer for next year!” She laughed, clapping her hands at her own cleverness._

_Foran shook her head slowly, fingers digging into the dry, black dirt. “That… that’s kind of missing the point…”_

_“So what happened?” Haggar chirped, changing the subject and dropping to sit beside Foran. She was always in the mood for some gossip. “Let me guess- it’s about Al?” Foran’s sister was known to be impulsive and strong willed, and causing headaches for her family._

_Foran almost smiled when Haggar dropped a kiss to her lips. “Exactly! She’s been chosen as a candidate to become a Voltron Paladin!”_

_The words were breathless, excited and disbelieving, but they echoed across the courtyard like a thunderclap. The future, which had been wide and open, full of joy until that moment, bent down a path she had been unable to see coming._

_Foran, who was warm and alive beside her, suddenly wasn’t_ there _anymore. She was a shadow on this world, passing over but would never impact it._

 _“Can you imagine, Haggar? She’s the first non-Galra blood to be chosen! Think about it- the Galra Coalition has a_ huge _trade network, if she makes enough contacts we could- Haggar?” Foran put a hand on her shoulder. “My love?”_

_It felt like this was the last time Foran would ever hear her say it. She reached out, putting her cold hand over Foran’s warm one. “She can’t stay there, Foran.” Her dream of the future, which had been happy and romantic now turned dark and sinister. The King never met her eyes. The child in her arms, she knew, was doomed. None of this was right. “She’ll ruin us all.”_

~*~*~*~

Akira shrieked in surprise as the klaxons started, and Shiro jumped to his feet a second after Thace sat up. “Everyone, get to your stations!”

“What the cheese?” Lance yelped, as they all stumbled and staggered up off the floor. “Come on, Zarkon, you have no respect for bonding time!”

He saw Keith cut his eyes toward Lance as they kept running. “He’s an evil tyrant, I doubt he cares!”

Shiro could hear Thace trying to calm Akira, taking up the rear as they streaked to the bridge as fast as they could. He, the other Paladins, Sam, Matt, Coran and Allura all were ahead of him-

And he heard the door slam, and a loud thud.

“The hell?” he asked, turning around to find that Thace wasn’t there. “Allura!”

“He’s still Galra, Shiro,” she said, put out. “He can’t be here!”

Shiro opened his mouth- either to tell her that Thace had more tactical know-how than anyone else there, or to start swearing- but the entire castle shook at that moment. “Can we wormhole out of here?”

“We have to get clear first, or they’ll follow us,” Allura said, dropping her hands on to the energy routers. 

“Lance, Keith, you’re on defense with me,” Shiro ordered. “Pidge, you call out incoming. Matt, you and Hunk keep an eye on our defenses. Sam, you work with them-“

The door to the bridge suddenly hissed, and a very put out Thace walked in, holding a squalling Akira. 

Both Coran and Allura shrieked, looked at each other, and then looked back at the door. Thace glared at them both, before rattling off the weaknesses of the drones- They were built more for atmosphere than space and thus had poor vertical movement. _Dive_.

They did so, pulling out of the direct line of drones and were able to reorient, but inertia kept them from speeding off immediately- and that was when Allura had the bright idea to use the gravity of a nearby moon to slingshot fast enough to wormhole away.

And it worked.

Shiro looked up in time to see Allura sway, almost falling, when Thace caught her with his free hand.

She stared at him as he leaned in, sniffing faintly and frowning. Then he helped her straighten… and she backed away, eyes wide. 

_Then_ she realized that the eyes of everyone were upon her. “I’m sorry,” she stuttered, licking her lips and dropping her eyes. “I didn’t sleep well and- ah- I was distracted. By Zarkon finding us- by his forces.”

“Well, we’re clear now. Maybe you should… rest?” Shiro asked, getting to his feet in concern. “We should be safe-“

“We don’t know that,” said Hunk, the guy who could keep his priorities. “That attack came out of nowhere, and we’re in neutral space.”

“They probably just saw us pass by,” Lance said, crossing his arms. He was watching Keith, who had gotten up and was prowling around in circles, unconsciously checking the perimeter. “I bet I could point my bayard in any given direction and hit a Galra ship.”

“Hm. Not quite sure our presence is that great,” Thace interrupted. “That was the bulk of Zarkon’s unmanned drones that we fought. Most of the ships that have a large presence are guarding the Hub worlds. Wormholes,” and he shook his head, a note of wonder in his voice. “ _Wormholes_ are not a technology we have. We cannot trace them. The Castle would have needed to pass incredibly close to a sensor, or near a highly important asset, to be directly detected.”

Allura hugged herself, and covered her mouth, a small shiver going through.

And Thace had a _look_ on his face. It was usually the look on his face that came before picking up a scared or unhappy Akira. He had seen it directed at Keith. Despite himself, Thace was reaching towards Allura to put a hand on her shoulder, purring loudly enough to fill the room-

She jerked away, hands out and turned to her control panels. “I- the ship’s sensors will be able to tell if we have any kind of bug on board.”

“On it,” Pidge piped up. She frowned as she tapped over the holo-keys. “Nothing we can detect.”

Akira chose at that moment to add his own analysis… which consisted of a few teary sniffles and a Thace hitching him up closer to his chest. Shiro walked over to check on them. 

“We would be able to find any sensors or homing beacons,” Allura added, sounding distant. “It… it must be something else.”

“Like what?” Keith asked, and cut his eyes towards Lance. “And if you say it is my fault-“

“Nope, babe, you’re a good-guy-Galra like your Space Gramps,” Lance said, crossing his arms and leaning back. 

Allura just looked distant, looking down, before taking a deep breath. “And speaking of Space Gramps, how did you get on board the bridge?” she snapped. Shiro snickered as Thace turned his gaze to Allura, only looking mildly ruffled. “Pure Galra should not be able to get passed the door!”

“I put my hand on the sensor,” he growled, and waved one of his giant paws over the conduits that Allura used to channel her energy to the ship. It turned a faint purple and faded. “Like a normal person.” A growl stirred in his chest. “Princess, I am a tactical asset. Do not exclude me during battle because you fear my species.”

Allura frowned, then looked away. “Fine.” She licked her lips, and then turned to Coran. “Do you think that Zarkon was able to track us through me?” 

Coran blinked rapidly, while Shiro lead the exclamations of surprise and disbelief from everyone else.

“Princess, the argument is not very solid. He’s found us twice now, but as far as we know, he could be following the Black Lion,” Pidge said. “Or has everyone forgotten that, I don’t know, he stole the Black Lion right out from under Shiro?”

“That was because he _is_ the Black Paladin, too.” Shiro said, and the entire room went quiet. “And you hadn’t told us.”

Allura’s back was rigid as she looked away.

“How- why would you let some evil guy become the Black Paladin?” Lance asked. “Wait, if Zarkon was a Paladin, were there other Galra Paladins?” His eyebrows both went up. “Some Galra touched _Blue?_ ”

“Yes. Because the Galra created Voltron,” Thace snapped.

This time the silence was total, despite the Paladins all freaking out. Shiro, who had at least an inkling of this, didn’t react quite so strongly… but he did feel Thace’s arm come around his waist.

“ _Created_ is not the correct word,” Allura said carefully. “The Galra… tamed the Lions, and brought them together to form Voltron, in their early explorations of the universe.”

“They are not tame Lions. No one could _tame_ Voltron,” Thace said. He put his chin on Shiro’s head, and gently nipped his hair. “That is insulting to a partnership. I do not know the history of the other Lions well. Most of the tales I know are of Red, because she likes our Clan and most of her pilots have been Agamen.”

Keith blinked. “Huh.” His lips quirked. “That… huh.”

“She likes bastard personalities,” Thace said, smiling back at him. Keith covered his mouth in a snicker.

“But why Zarkon?” Hunk asked. “Didn’t, I don’t know, the ancient Paladin order or whatever have psychological testing? I mean, you gotta at least take a psyche test before joining the Garrison, so, I don’t know, don’t you guys have those things?”

Coran got up. “I’m going to go check the engines!” He ran out so quickly you would have think he was greased.

Allura glared at his retreating back. “I… I don’t know much, if I am honest. Most of this happened before I was born and I was never told about.” She exhaled. “I didn’t tell you of Voltron’s history because I feared it would complicate matters, when we needed to get moving.” She sat down on the deck, wiping sweat off her face. “Lately, I’ve come to realize how little I actually _do_ know.”

“I think… I don’t know. I asked Black about it.” In his mind’s eye, Shiro could see himself overlapped with Zarkon. “Something happened, didn’t it, Allura? That made Altea and the Galra go to war?”

Allura pinched the skin between her brows. “I was _told_ that it started because of Galra expansionism. The Galra were creeping into everyone’s territories, searching for resources. They were breeding unchecked, and because they could breed with other species, entire races were afraid of going extinct-“

Thace’s face went slack. “You mean- in your day- “ He couldn’t breathe. Shiro straightened, taking Akira and bracing him as he swayed back and forth. “In the past, they all-“

Shiro shivered, suddenly, listening to everything they said sound like it was underwater, his head spinning. He looked down at his son, and wiped his eyes and felt… _jealousy_.

Akira had his Daddy’s eyes and his Appah’s ears and coloring. She never would know that-

She would never-

Shiro didn’t even realize he was crying when Zarkon’s fleet caught up with them again.

~*~*~*~*~

_Zarkon opened the door to the room he shared with his cohort, and found Al sitting on her bed, staring at the small communicator in her hand._

_She was sniffling, and the communicator had cracked in her hands._

_She also looked completely Altean._

_Gone was the height and the purple skin of a halfbreed. He had heard of the shape-changing abilities of the Alteans, and had heard that it was uncanny. He had known about it, but suspected he had seen her use it, well, ever since her arrival._

_“What’s wrong?” he asked, walking towards her and sitting on the bed._

_She quickly wiped the tears off. “Nothing. I just… I found out that I’m…” She threw the communicator at the wall, and it shattered, dropping to the floor in a shower of shards. “My sister has told me I’m to be married. Political marriage.” She got to her feet, and slammed her fist into the wall. “I’ve never even met him- he’s_ three times _my age- how could she do this to me? Why? How? I’ve never-“_

_“Explain this to me. You are being forced to mate someone against your will?” The idea was ludicrous. “You are going to- to what?”_

_“I’m being called home,” Al said bitterly, before whirling around and bowing, every line of her full of mocking scorn. “My name is Alphae, scion of house Alfeus, the current ruling house of Altea. My sister is currently the next in line for the Throne of Altea and I’m… I’m…”_

_“Going to be the next Black Paladin,” he said emphatically, putting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing._

_“I'm sorry I wasn’t honest with you.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “Everyone here, just… rather don't like non-Galra, so I… I wanted to fit in.”_

_Zarkon nodded. “I had concluded as much. You are too unfamiliar with how being Galra works for you to be anything but. And Castor now owes Jaz money.”_

_Al blew through her lips and snickered, before it turned into a sob. “I don’t want to do this, Zarkon. I don’t want to be mated for the rest of my life to some old geezer who couldn’t find a mate on his own-“_

_Zarkon realized he was staring at her. “You mate for life?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“You’ve never-“_

_“Yes. That’s the reason I never took you up on your offers.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I… quiznack, I would happily ride you into the sunset, but… I just thought that, if I had to be marriage bait, Most Revered High Holy Altean Big Sister Foran would find me someone my own age…”_

_Zarkon had an idea. It was a stupid idea. But… Al had become dear to him. She had become dear to his entire cohort, and they would understand why he was about to make this offer._

_“If you were to mate with someone before, would you still be forced to wed this person?”_

_Alphae blinked. Stared. Licked her lips. “Zarkon, I’d be stuck with that person for life. I can’t just go out and rent a companion for this!”_

_Zarkon paused for a moment, and snorted. “Well, won’t you reconsider? I offer exceptional rates-“ he said, and Alphae sputtered._

_“Zarkon, you and Kiera and Castor kind of…”_

_“They love you, too.” And how her face turned a brilliant red-purple… he had no idea if it was her being embarrassed or her color changing ability. “Jaz has no care for mating, and he loves talking Altean science with you. Kiera thinks you are beautiful. Castor would like nothing more than to spar with you for the rest of his life. They would do whatever it takes to keep you with us. So they will understand when I make this offer.” He leaned down, gently nipping her chin. She shivered. “Would it work, though? Keep you here?”_

_“I’m in… mostly good standing here. And if word got out that I screwed a Galra, well, it would be a blight on the house. So they would try to keep it quiet and let me stay here. Probably.” She said, and shivered again when he brushed his lips and tongue over her neck. He could smell her arousal, her pheromones suddenly filling the room. “We can’t… let me get pregnant, but just sex-“_

_“How does it work?”_

_“Mating changes my scent,” she mumbled, tilting her head further to the side. He felt a lump under her skin, and dragged his teeth over it. She shuddered, grabbing his arms. “His dick won’t get hard around me.” She took one of his large hands and guided it to between her legs, to a long slit. It was hot already, and the fabric was sodden. “I won’t get wet for anyone but you.” She laughed, a little weakly. “That's a bit of a problem if things don't work out.”_

_He traced his fingers over the cloth, and a smile crawled over his face as she mewed. “Are you fertile right now?”_

_“No-“_

_He pushed down her uniform pants, and she swallowed hard. “Zarkon-“_

_“I’ve wanted to take care of you like this for a long time,” he whispered, almost inaudible, before pulling one of her legs over his shoulder, hot breath just over her cunt-lips. “Al. Thank you for letting me do this.”_

_She bit back a whimper._

__

~*~*~*~*~

_In her dreams, Haggar had once again been with the King who never turned to look at her, and the doomed child in her arms. But now she saw a new face, one that had never been there before. A Galra, hidden and clothed in black, behind the King._

_He did meet her eyes. His hatred burned like the sun_

_Galaxies away on Altea, Haggar sat up, and felt the other side of the bed._

_It was cold._

_Dread made her jump to her feet, running through the halls until she found Foran, sitting on the balcony with a wineglass in hand, looking up at the stars._

_“Oh thank the stars you’re here,” she whispered, throwing herself at Foran and hugging her tightly._

_Foran gave her a smile. “What brought this on?” she said, kissing her cheek. She smelled like juniberry liqueur and regret._

_“…missed you, is all. Woke up and you weren’t there.”_

_“Yes.” Foran sighed. “I couldn’t sleep. Can’t believe I did that to my own sibling. She wanted to make her own choice. I feel bad doing it to her.” She fondly stroked Haggar’s hair, parting it to show the white roots. “She deserved better.”_

_“It’s for the good of us all,” Haggar said. “I’ve seen it. She stays there, doom falls on us.”_

_Foran sighed. “I wish I understood how. She wanted to do this, to be away from Altea. Forcing her home, to marry some old man-“_

_“She cannot be a Paladin.” The doom had been clear. Something was going to happen to Foran if she stayed and… Haggar could not allow that to happen. Not to Foran._

_“Are you so sure? You aren’t marrying a king, are you?” Foran said, and lifted an eyebrow. Haggar chuckled, before stealing her glass to finish off the liqueur._

_Foran had a point, yet there was a small voice that kept saying that there was no way to change the future. It was, and always been, one._

_No. Haggar wouldn’t let that happen. She would rip apart the universe first._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this week happened. Hope your week was all good.


	4. Chapter 4

You selfish child.

_Alphae pressed her lips together as she walked through the darkened corridor toward the Lions. To her magical senses, they all shone like small suns, pulsing with life and warmth. They all tasted different, but trying to decode those differences was difficult._

Is it? Your highness, is it selfish that I have tried to live my own life, outside of your shadow? Is it selfish to be happy with the people I love? Is it wrong of me, to want a chance to do _something_ with my life, beyond being marriage bait, or a spare body in case _you_ die?

_She exhaled, then breathed in again, casting her mind out. She wanted Black. She had to find Black._

We are leaders of our people, and we must make sacrifices.

_One by one, she felt them reach out, considering, touching, like fingers tracing the words of her soul. Not just her, they were doing the same to the other candidates that she couldn’t see._

And what sacrifices have _you_ made?

_Her call with Foran had been difficult; finding out that your sister had bucked your orders for an arranged marriage (but no one could say that it was a genuinely useful alliance) in favor of pairing off with an alien wasn’t news anyone wanted to hear. Not only that, she had paired with a species that most Alteans found to be unwashed, primitive and uncouth._

Haggar believes-

_We_ make the future, Foran. Let me have my own!

_One by one, the bright lights in her mind dimmed, turning towards other people. The great, cold blue ocean was all but giggling, as if it had scored a coup, swooping in to choose someone else. Stone, the roots of mountains and planets, seemed impressed with another, someone who tasted of protection and support. Their choices were made. Three others lingered over her. The wild, exuberant green, always reaching, always growing, curious and unending fascination- no. They weren’t compatible._

_That left heat. Warmth. Brilliant fire- Acting on instinct, impulse, had brought her here. She hadn’t needed to think about it. She had wanted to be_ free _, for her life to make a difference beyond being a stuffed doll for her family to show off._

_She could cut; she was the blade that sliced through their opponents when her cohort fought together during practice._

_She felt the eyes peering at her, and she knew she didn’t need to look any further._

_The lights came on, and before her was the Red Lion._

_Euphoria ran through her, the joy of_ connection _, as the Red Lion delighted at having a new pilot. It bubbled up in her belly, making her knees go weak. It was bright, tense-to-bursting, like the first time she had kissed Zarkon, the first time they had loved, the first time she had, nervously, allowed Kiera and Castor to join them in sharing bodies while Jaz watched, and he joined them later for the pleasure of his company and warmth._

_Red opened her mouth, and Alphae walked inside._

~*~*~*~*~

_One by one, each cohort had been tested, and one by one, each Paladin candidate had gone before the Lions. Most were ignored, and never found their way to testing grounds where the Lions waited._

_Zarkon watched Alphae be called away, and he prayed for her success. She had proven herself a worthy warrior, fierce and determined. Her ambition to become the Black Paladin was a noble one. He feared that a lack of success would break her._

_“I’m Blue!” a voice called, jubilant, as Kiera raced into the lounge with the rest of their cohort. “I’m… the fuck.” She stopped like a cat who had forgotten her mission. “Why the hell did Blue choose me?” She looked around, frantically, at Jaz, who had come back shaking and passed out on the couch, and then at Castor, who was purring to himself and staring out into space, dazed. “Who got Red? Did any of us get Red?” she called, before Castor drew her down to his lap, nipping her chin and making her shriek, mew and go limp all at the same time. He chuckled evilly as she straddled him, grinding up to meet her, and she growled back._

_Zarkon rolled his eyes._

_At this point, three of his cohort had been chosen by the Lions. It seemed unthinkable that he would not join them, but it was not unprecedented. The Lions were free spirits, and they would choose who they chose._

_When his own name was called, Zarkon rose to his feet. Around him, his cohort gave him gestures of encouragement (Keira and Castor both got up to nip his chin, while Jaz roused himself enough to rub faces) as he left. He followed the druid down the many corridors, eventually becoming lost as the lights dimmed._

_He could feel her, though. The great emptiness of space yawned overhead, and her shoulders were dusted in stars. She looked down at him, striking his soul and it rang like a bell in answer._

__You. _There_ you are. Why did you keep me waiting?

I’m sorry I took so long, _he answered, breathless, as he was born and died and born again, to find and to love, to save and to guide._ I couldn’t find my way.

Welcome home.

~*~*~*~*~

_“Red!” Al shouted, breathless, as she ran into the waiting room. “Red chose me!”_

_“You lucky bitch!” Kiera answered, getting up to hug her. “I got Blue!”_

_Jaz was barely awake enough to laugh. “Green. But what happened to Black or nothing?”_

_Al just laughed, throwing a rude gesture his way and throwing herself at Kiera for another hug, and then at Castor when he joined them. “You think I care right now? Only if some asshole like- wait.” She sobered, “Who_ did _Black chose?”_

_“Me.”_

_Al looked up; Zarkon had just walked in the door, and his expression reflected how most of them felt: awed, overwhelmed, about to pee their pants. Like they were seeing new colors._

_“Of course,” she heard herself saying. Of course Black would choose him. All of them turned to Zarkon when things were bad, and he gave them an answer. All of them went to Zarkon when they needed encouragement, mediation. He was the level head, the one who guided the way. “It had to be you.”_

_He opened his arms, and they ran to him, the cohort together. One body, one will, one mind._

_It felt, that in that moment, nothing could ever go wrong._

~*~*~*~*~

The weight of it nearly crushed Thace.

It had been almost ten _thousand_ years since a full litter had survived birth. Ten thousand years since their females hadn’t lived in constant mourning. _Ten thousand years_ since a family, a pride, could live together and raise their children without dread. 

He still remembered watching, waiting with Mirae for his second litter. They had all seemed perfect, no defects, developing normally. Watching them move, _feeling_ them move, clutching at the hope that this time everything would go right… and then watching as, one by one, they all went still. Like the life and breath had been pulled from their small bodies. 

How _many_ children had been lost?

It was the sound of the klaxons that pulled him back out, reflex and training from almost two centuries of serving the Empire meant he could pull his head out of his ass when he needed to. Which was a good thing, as Shiro was staring at nothing, eyes fixed in the middle distance as tears ran down his face, teeth bared and jaw clenched. Thace waved a hand in front of his face-

Shiro’s eyes didn’t track it, instead dodging left and right, clutching at his side as his knees buckled. Thace followed him down, putting a hand on his shoulder. Still no response. He took Akira from Shiro, who was whimpering in fear at the noise.

Thace looked around. Allura was forcing herself back to the energy conduits, Lance and Keith were at the drone controls, while Pidge was frantically assessing damage with her brother and father while Hunk called out patterns in the fighters. 

“The drone fighters use a quantum feed to relay orders and coordinate attacks. Pidge, if you can disrupt their communications-“

She nodded. In the background, he heard Coran suddenly shriek through the communicator. He snapped for Matt and Sam to go help him. Then Coran promptly slipped and fell.

“Can you get us out of here, Allura?” Thace asked, tucking Akira under his robe, hoping to muffle the noise for him. 

“I can try,” she answered, placing her hands over the conduits. They glowed, and he saw her grit her teeth, sweat beading on her face, closing her eyes in concentration. They sped away, this time going straight up and out of the easy vectors of attack for the fighters. “Quiznak,” she wheezed, and he caught a glimpse of the wormhole spinning out of nothing ahead of them. Almost- almost-

And it suddenly faded away.

“Allura!” the Paladins cried in fear as the Princess’ knees gave out, making her collapse. Thace caught her, one arm around her waist. The Castle shook around them as they kept taking fire.

“Princess,” Thace hissed. “We have to get out of here-“

She nodded. “Help me up.” She leaned on him as he helped her up, sweat pouring down her face. He half dragged, half carried her to the energy conduits, and-

She grunted, swearing in frustration as they barely lit up. “I’m sorry-“

“You can do this, Princess,” he urged. “Your cohort is depending on you. They need you.” The ship shuddered, and the deck bucked beneath their feet. The Princess swayed, leaning back into him, and he covered one of her hands with his own and placed them on the conduit. “We believe in you.”

The conduit glowed brightly, and Allura growled, low and deep, as the wormhole finally opened long enough for them jump through.

Thace let her go, and they both dropped. Akira let out a wail, and Thace grunted, pulling his son out of his robe. “My poor boy,” he muttered, cuddling him. The whelp’s eyes were full of terrified tears. “I am so sorry.”

Allura, who was still leaning on Thace, awkwardly patted Akira. “It’s okay, little one,” she murmured. “We got away. It’s okay.” She dashed her hands over her eyes. “I’m sorry, that shouldn’t have happened.”

Thace didn’t answer, but pat her head like a whelp and she wrinkled her nose. He hunched over Akira, nuzzling him until the tears stopped, cooing soothing nonsense.

“Shiro?” a voice called, and he saw Keith getting up out of his chair, rushing to Shiro who was still kneeling on the floor. Thace grunted, getting up in stages; first to his knees, then hanging off of one of the conduits, and hauling Allura up with him. Difficult, with only one arm to use, as the other was occupied with Akira.

He joined Keith, and he heard Keith purring in concern; the same type of purring that Akira was making now, self-soothing. Thace put one of his paws in Keith’s hair, and put Akira in his arms, before turning to Shiro.

“Beloved,” he murmured, reaching out to stroke his face. “Come back to us.”

~*~*~*~*~

_The feelings- the tears, the outrage- had crashed over Shiro like a tsunami._

_He found himself surrounded by darkness, suspended over a circle of runes. They hemmed him in, digging into his soul as he struggled to break free. His body was a heavy, almost dead weight as he forced himself to look around. He hung in space, wearing armor, looking up at the cloaked and hooded figures of druids as they poured magic into the circle around him._

_“Have you found him?” a feminine voice whispered, and Shiro twisted to look at a figure with white hair. Yellow eyes glowed under a dark hood, deep red making slashes of color across her purple face. “Ah.” Her lips pulled back into a humorless smile. “There you are…”_

_Shiro kept fighting, struggling, but he was stiff and heavy, like he was wearing a corpse._

_Her smile was venomous. “I am happy to have you back, my liege.”_

__

~*~*~*~*~

He convulsed as he popped back into reality, coughing and wiping his face and trying to remind his lungs that breathing was necessary.

He was surrounded by faces. “Who… what’s going on?” he asked quietly, looking around, looking for people he knew. “Where am I?”

A handsome Galra looked down at him. His face was still, as was proper, but every other line of him showed panic. “You are on the Castle of Lions.” 

“I can see that,” he answered. “But… where are the Paladins? Where is… Allura?” he peered at her. She looked older than he remembered: taller, more beautiful, an adult come into her full strength and power. “Where is Al?”

The handsome Galra’s ears were pinned back. “Shiro,” he said, slowly and carefully. “ _These_ are the Paladins of Voltron. You are their leader. Remember?”

He looked from face to face, blankly, confused, staring at them all, until he saw the one of the smaller aliens holding the little half-breed whelp, who was leaning his way, trying to get out of the arms of the alien holding him. Without thinking he caught the whelp and-

And bit down a curse as the universe, or his head, broke into shards, scattering around him as he looked down at his son, his Akira, who was giving him the most wibbly, wobbly sad eyes he had ever seen in his life. “Yes,” he hissed. He kissed Akira’s forehead, then his nose, then his cheeks. “Yes I remember.” He looked around, at his friends, realized he was bleeding from his nose and nearly freaked out as he tried to wipe it out of Akira’s hair because no, _no_ he was not doing that to his baby.

Thace, the bastard, laughed weakly in relief. He fell over on to his side on the floor and didn’t move even as he kept laughing.

“What happened?” Keith asked, and Shiro managed to get the blood off of Akira, who honestly didn’t seem to care so long as Daddy was holding him and not acting strange. 

Shiro shuddered. “I- I was… I think I was…”

_“Hey, everyone?”_ a voice called, and Coran’s face, shiny and slick, appeared on the intercom screen. _“I have some bad news.”_

~*~*~*~*~

_Haggar laughed._

_Breathless. Disbelieving. Overjoyed._

_In her lap was her beloved, beautiful Foran, sleeping, breathing deeply… when a moment ago she hadn’t been. A moment ago, she had been lying in a pool of her own blood from where a girder had gone through her chest._

_Tears of joy ran down Haggar’s face as she leaned down, kissing her wife, returning her warmth and life, filling her lungs, feeling her heart beat._

_“Foran, can you hear me, love?” she asked. The Castle bucked and screamed around them as they took fire. “We have to go.”_

_“Haggar?” she croaked, distant and tired. “What… what happened?” Haggar helped her sit up, and then to stand._

_Haggar kissed her again. “I did it, love,” she whispered, hugging her wife with all her strength. “I did it. I brought you back.”_

_Foran stared. “You-“ Foran pulled away, and she took in the tableau around them._

_She and Foran were surrounded by dead bodies. They were all that remained of Foran’s honor guard; a mix of Altean, Galra and half-breed elite soldiers. There were a half-dozen of them, and beyond that were the dead crew that manned the castle defenses._

_Their faces were still, untroubled, as if they were sleeping. They had fallen were they stood, like puppets with their strings cut, limbs twisted like discarded dolls. Beyond that, the view screens showed that half of the combined Altean/Galra fleet. What remained fought to hold formation to keep their desperate retreat from becoming a rout._

_Voltron floated into view, dark and still, unmoving._

_“Haggar,” Foran said, horror dawning over her face as she touched her blood-soaked shirt, to find the whole skin beneath. “Haggar, what have you done?”_

_“It doesn’t matter,” she snapped. “We have to get out of here. The Castle is lost. The battle is lost. We have to evacuate while there is still time!”_

“What did you do?” _Foran demanded._

“I changed the future!” _Haggar yowled. “I changed it! For you!”_

_Foran went still. “I remember the girder-“_

_“I saw this happening,” Haggar interrupted. “I saw it happening for years. You, dead. I didn’t know how. All I know was that your life was meaningless, that your death had_ no purpose. _That no one would remember your name. Foran, I fixed it. I_ changed _it.” She took Foran’s arm, trying to lead her out. “They devoted their lives to protecting you, Foran.” She waved her hand at the guards, at the crew. “_ You _are the only thing that matters!”_

_Foran stopped. “Haggar… you killed all these people.” She put one hand to her throat. “You drained them. You stole their quintessence to_ resurrect _me?”_

_“Yes!” Haggar whirled. “A thousand times, a_ million _times, I would do it again! I am not letting you die a meaningless death. Not when I can save you!”_

_There was an explosion- silent, graceful- as one of their capital ships met its death in the dark. The feel of the shockwave it caused was enough to goad Foran forward as they ran for the escape pods._

_She was silent as they ran, until they got to the pods and launched._

_“We need to meet with the naval commanders,” Foran said. “We need to find were they plan to rally-“_

_“Why?” Haggar asked, whirling to see her. “The battle is lost. The_ war _is lost.” Haggar swallowed. “You pinned your strategy on Voltron and Voltron was never going to win.”_

_“How do you know?” Foran asked, dully, looking outside. “Another vision?”_

_“No, because-“ and Haggar swallowed. “You shouldn’t have even been here.”_

_“I had to be here. I had to lead my people, Haggar. It’s my job,” Foran said, and Haggar wasn’t sure what it was in her voice. Revulsion. “I am the Heir, a leader. Sacrificing for my people is my duty.” Her gaze drifted towards the still, giant robot outside. “You never understood that.”_

_“Who cares now?” Haggar turned to hug Foran. “It’s just the two of us now. It doesn’t matter!”_

_Foran took a deep breath and smiled at Haggar. “You’re right. Of course you are right.” She kissed Haggar. “I need to put on one of the space suits. Set us a course for- for wherever. I’ll be with you in a few moments,” she said, stepping out of arm’s reach. “I love you.”_

_The door hissed._

_That was the last time she ever saw Foran’s face._

_The next thing she knew, a tiny figure was jetting towards Voltron. She smashed her fingers into the controls, activating the internal radio. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”_

_Foran’s voice faded in and out from the static. “I’m making a choice.”_

_“A choice? Foran, your people need you. They need their leader, they-“_

_“Listen. Please, Haggar, by the ancients and all that is good in the universe, please listen,” she said, almost to her destination. “You saved me. You stopped me from dying a_ meaningless _death.”_

_Haggar brought the pod over, trying to intercept. It was for naught._

_She thought she saw Foran arrive, landing on the chest of Voltron, bathed in the glow of her quintessence. “And I owe it to my guards, to my people, that_ their _sacrifices were not in vain, either.”_

_Her breathing turned labored, and Haggar wailed; because she had just heard those sounds. The sounds of Foran’s lungs filling with blood, felt her heart try to beat around the metal girder, heard her wheeze for air._

_“Thank you, for giving me this chance, Haggar. I can save everyone now,” Foran said. Under her, the mighty robot began to stir. One by one, the beastly eyes of the Lions shone in the dark. She heard her cough. “I love-“_

_The radio went silent._

_The warm, soft glow from Foran faded away. Haggar reached out with her magic, but the thread of her life force flowed through her fingers like water, unable to grip or to hold._

_“No,” she whispered in denial. “No. Foran, I saved you.” She stared out into the void, as her eyes went hot, face and head throbbing with pain and mourning. She watched Voltron revive, forming a sword that blazed as brightly as Foran had, once._

_“I saved you. I changed the future.”_

_She hiccupped, sobbing. She didn’t see Voltron rally the remaining forces. Nor did she care._

_Not when she had been the one to tip the invaders off, setting up the ambush to kill Voltron._

_“You weren’t supposed to die.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this weekend is my last performance (even if there are 4 this weekend. Wish me luck.) I should be able to update both stories more frequently after that, I hope!
> 
> Thank you, everyone who leaves feedback. It helps me keep writing.


	5. Chapter 5

_The first thing Alphae was aware of was the smell._

_It was dank, the sewer stench that came after bacteria in the digestive system had forced the intestines out. It was a smell she had gotten used to, over the long, painful grind of her people’s extinction._

_The smell of death was almost an old friend at this point._

_The next thing Alphae was aware of was pain._

_Her nose was broken, one eye swollen shut, and from the way her knee was twisted under her and throbbing, it was twisted and torn. Probably wouldn’t hold her weight._

_That was okay. She wasn’t planning on walking out of there._

_She opened her one good eye, and found herself exactly where she wanted to be._

_Around her, druids hung in the air like they were under water, drifting and silent, watching her under the command of their owner. There was no circle around her- yet- so whatever Haggar had planned wasn’t yet begun._

_The scent of death came closer, and she craned her neck around to the left, and her gaze landed on Zarkon._

_He looked bad. He was draped in heavy plate armor, shrouded in a thick cloak, but the flesh of his face was sunken, sagging off his bones while his eyes were clouded over and dull behind the purple glow. The sewer stench radiating off him was testament that Haggar’s spells were rotting as much as he was. His bayard had a ghostly sheen in the dim light._

_Even after all of these years, Alphae couldn’t stop the guilt and self-loathing at the sight of him._

_“Hello, Big Guy,” she murmured. “Sorry… sorry about all of this.”_

_“It’s funny,” a voice answered. A voice she knew. Alphae wiped her face of blood and grime before sitting up enough to look at the speaker._

_Haggar had changed as much as they all had. Once, she had taken pride in her youth and beauty. Once she had been the standard of fashion and grooming, the Princess-Consort. Now… She was withered, dressed in druid rags. Her only vanity was the small glowing vial around her neck, the phylactery that held Zarkon’s soul._

_“He fights me still,” the witch went on. Alphae looked back to see Zarkon, stance wider, hand hovering over his bayard. She tilted her head, before clenching her fist, and Zarkon came forward, the bayard forming into a sword. “But he always comes to heel.”_

_“Is this what you’ve always wanted?” Alphae asked. It was hard, trying to breathe; her ribs were cracked. “Me, defeated, at your feet?”_

_“Once, maybe,” Haggar said. She didn’t notice Alphae’s desperate scribbles on the floor with her own blood. “But I will be satisified-“_

_And Alphae smiled, feeling the Lions with her as she_ reached _-_

__

~*~*~*~*~

_The spirit plane was always a cold, mysterious place. Alphae was there, with Black behind her, rushing forward to the form of her beloved, wrapped in chains._

_He had killed her son. A child she hadn’t wanted, hadn’t carried, had ignored. He hadn’t deserved it; neither of them had deserved it. None of them had._

_She had so many regrets, dragging her down as she snatched at the chains binding Zarkon, snapping them with her will, Black anchoring her spirit so that she could do this- could do this-_

_“Al!” Zarkon said, rasping as she pulled free the gag and blindfold. “What are you doing here? Where is Allura, is she-“_

_“Alive,” Al promised. “The last light of Altea sleeps safely.” Her fingers passed through the links, hearing them chip and shatter under the force of her will._

_“Hurry-“ Zarkon urged, struggling. There were two chains left. “She’s going to make me-“_

_Coldness ripped through Al’s chest as she looked down; the tip of the Black Paladin’s bayard had emerged from her chest._

_She could barely keep herself in the spirit plane as she tasted blood in her mouth, filling her lungs as her heart beat made the blade vibrate against her ribs. One of Zarkon’s hands were free, guiding one of hers to the last chain._

_Together they broke it._

_Her eyes opened back to the material plane in time to see Zarkon howl, letting go of the hilt of his bayard to snatch the phylactery from Haggar’s neck to dash it against the floor._

_Spots danced through her vision as she couldn’t breathe, coughing up blood to spit on the floor as Haggar shrieked, watching as Zarkon’s long dead body dropped to the deck of the ship like a rotten log._

_Alphae smiled through the pain. Smiled as she felt Haggar try to grab his soul, but it slipped away. Smiled as she felt ice crawl up from her feet, lost control of her body, as her heart quit battling the blade that cut it in two._

_“Damn you, Alfor,” Haggar shrieked, coming over to stomp her face. Alphae couldn’t feel it, lost in shock, but she did hear the crunch of bone. “Damn you. I’ll find you, and I’ll take away everything you hold dear. Life after life! I will make you watch as I kill your foul spawn, I will find your precious_ Voltron, and I will make you all suffer for this! _”_

_Alphae felt Haggar try to snag her, as well. But the powerful jaws of the Black Lion grabbed her and Zarkon and scattered their souls to the uncaring stars._

~*~*~*~*~

Thace grunted as he forced himself to sit up. His muscles screamed like he had been fighting a battle for days; his joints snapped and clicked like they were rusted. Allura didn’t look much better.

“What’s the situation, Coran?” Shiro asked wearily, cuddling Akira to his chest. Their son was gripping the front of Shiro’s shirt with both hands and rubbing his face in it; Thace suspected it was comfort. The loud noise had to have been terrifying for him.

“Well… I am perfectly fine. Absolutely fine.” 

Except he wasn’t. Behind him, in the screen, both Matt and Sam were looking at Coran with a mix of concern and disgust. “You’re sweating,” Allura said.

“I am… It’s hot. Very… hot.”

The Princess tilted her head to the side. “You may have a case of the slipperies.”

“I- no! No! That’s an old person disease and I’m not- I’m young!” He looked panicked. “Young-ish.”

Exhaustion made Thace giddy, and he snickered despite knowing better. 

“Oh don’t you start!”

“We can see that… you have everything under control, Coran,” Shiro said, bouncing Akira. “What’s the problem with the Castle?”

“We’ve cracked some of the teledove lenses, and the power conduit is…” He scratched his head. “Allura, you were having trouble making the wormhole, but we got a sudden surge of power. It overloaded the energy pathways.”

“And that means,” Lance asked, trailing off. “What?”

“It means that we have maybe one or two jumps before the power conduits give out completely,” Matt cut in. “And we’ll be stranded in space.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Thace saw Allura cover her face with her hands, shoulders rising- before dropping both, and her face was normal again. “I’m sorry,” she said, her elegant mask neatly in place. “I… this is my fault.”

“Didn’t we just have this conversation?” Hunk said. “Princess, we don’t know if it’s you that they’re tracking, and you pulled a miracle to get us out of there. Let’s just- let’s just get stuff fixed, have a snack, calm down.”

Shiro’s expression was dark and distant. “I think… I have my own theory. But speculation won’t help anyone. Coran, we have to assume we only have one jump left. Where do we need to go to get this fixed?”

Coran was silent for a moment. “Need to do a more thorough check… and we can consider our options.”

“And how-“ Pidge started asking, but Coran fell down. Matt and Sam could be seen hauling up him up before he slid out of their hands… making their faces turn green. Pidge gagged. “Um. What- okay. How long will this take? Want me to come down and help?”

“I think we can handle this, Kiddo,” Sam said. “You, um… you never did well with slugs, so I can’t see you doing-“

Pidge turned away, shaking her head. 

“THERE IS NOTHING WRONG-“ they heard Coran say, a moment before the com cut out.

“Is he going to be okay?” Lance asked, turning to Allura. “He sounds kinda-“

Allura bit her lip. “The slipperies are caused by a common Altean virus. It can cause a week of high fevers for young children, and then stay in the body until we… reach a certain age.” She looked down. “Then it can flare up, causing the body to start producing extremely slick fluid.”

Thace grunted softly. “Age catches up with all of us.”

Keith got to his feet and came over. “Are you all right, Grandfather?”

He waved Keith off. “I’m old, not dead.” But everyone stared as his joints creaked and popped when he stood. 

“Thace,” Shiro said, a note of warning in his voice. “Big Guy, I really _don’t_ want to watch you in the ‘refresher again.”

Thace shook his head. “Tired.” More words seemed difficult. “You?” He gestured at Shiro’s nose with his chin. “What happened? I would understand if you forgot about me again,” even if something like that would kill him, “but you seemed to have forgotten the Paladins.”

Shiro’s eyebrow twitched. “Yeah. About that.” He looked down at Akira’s face, and kissed his forehead. “I thought I was Zarkon.”

There was a long chorus of ‘what?’ and ‘no way!’ and ‘what the quiznak?’ from everyone there, while Thace’s eyes narrowed. 

“You had a dream this morning..?”

Shiro met his eyes and nodded.

“So he is using the Black Lion to track us.” Pidge leaned forward. 

“There had never been a recorded instance of a Lion being able to respond to their Paladin from so far a distance-“ Allura interrupted, but in turn was silenced when Keith raised his hand.

Thace felt his face try to split open in a smile, when the boy recited part of their family’s older tales, of how, after first gaining the friendship and respect of Red, the Agamen had been lost and afraid and Red had borne him home.

Shiro, out of the corner of his eye, chuckled.

“Space Gramps is happy with one of his Space Babies,” Lance whispered loudly to Keith… and they both glared at him. “Ah, you look alike already!”

Allura sighed. “I see I am outnumbered. Though an ancient legend is hardly proof.”

“My Clan has kept that tale since its inception-“ Thace protested, and Keith _growled_.

“Let’s take their word for it,” Hunk said, cringing away. “Growling Galra Keith is kind of scary.”

Thace felt his ears twitch. 

“I don’t have the energy to contest that,” Allura said. 

“I think we have a few hours before we need to decide on where to go,” Shiro offered. The trickle of blood from before had started back, and he handed Akira to Thace so that he could pinch his nose. 

“Shall I take you to the med bay?” Allura asked. “We can treat that.”

A few moments later, when it became apparent that another attack was not forthcoming, they went their separate ways. Shiro shared a glance with Thace before following Allura to the med bay. Hunk said he was too riled up and was going to bake, Pidge fidgeted before following Hunk, and both Lance and Keith left together. 

Thace _would_ have followed Shiro, but the deep ache in his bones and joints kept him from moving as quickly as he would have liked… and the door slammed in his face. Again.

He put his hand over the sensor, the same as last time. No response.

“Oh for pity’s sake,” he started to grumble, looking down at Akira, who was looking up at him with his dark gray eyes, not fully recovered from his earlier scare. “Daddy’s going to be fine,” he whispered, nuzzling the boy. “I’m fine too. We’re all fine.” 

The same action at the door had the same answer. None.

He looked around for the intercom… and either this ship’s design was completely different from every Galra ship he had served on, or it had mysteriously vanished. Neither made sense to him.

Instead, he saw a sliding door open in one of the corners of the room. He blinked, approaching it. 

Inside was a zipline. 

Akira cooed. 

“My son, I have no idea.”

~*~*~*~*~

Keith wasn’t really sure where he was going right then; just out. It had barely been a few hours since they had eaten.

“Should we go try to find the pool?” Keith asked, and he stopped when he noticed that Lance was falling behind, hands in his pockets and eyes cast down to the floor. “Hey. Lance.”

“Hm.” He shrugged. “Pool sounds good,” he said, distant. 

Keith lifted an eyebrow as he turned to continue on. “There were trunks in our- my- room.”

Lance nodded.

“I can get some clean towels while I’m at it.”

“Sounds good.”

“I might get my knife, because I thought I might go fishing.”

“Oh.”

Keith stopped, planting himself in front of Lance. “You okay?”

Lance blinked at him. “I’m fine.”

“I said I should go fishing in the pool and you just ignored it. What’s wrong?” he asked, crossing his arms. 

Lance shrugged. “You really thinking about doing it?”

“What, fishing? You know there won’t be any fish alive in that pool-“

“Undo the thing. You know, the one that keeps you from being purple.” Lance kept looking down.

“I don’t know.” Keith tilted his head to the side. “I mean, the idea of… Thace and Akira are the only family I have. My Dad loved me a lot, though. Having his face, kinda feels like getting a piece of him back.”

Lance hugged his own arms. “…okay…”

“You don’t like the idea,” Keith said, flatly. 

Lance shook his head. “No, Keith, it’s not- it’s not that I mind you being half Galra. Just… if we ever go home. What are we going to do, fly up in our spaceship Castle and say ‘We come in peace! We just fought an intergalactic war! Give us a parade!’ They don’t even know about all of this. And should we even tell them?” He reached out, putting a hand on Keith’s face. “Call me a dumbass Omega, but… your Dad changed you so you could live on Earth. If you undo that, can you go home? We have kids, will I be able to take ‘em to meet their grandparents?”

Keith’s throat closed up. “You want-“

Lance choked. “No! Well, not yet. Not for a while. We talked about that. Shiro may have been able to handle being pregnant while people were trying to kill him but I sure as hell want a safe nest first. But my implant won’t last forever.” He groaned, running his fingers through his hair. “You will probably look hot as hell being tall, furry and purple. But I do have family back on Earth. I miss them. I want to take you home to meet them.” He let out a long breath. “But I get it. Thace looks big and scary but put Akira in his lap and he’s a big sweet tom cat. If your dad was like that… and it’s your choice. I’ll support you.” He sniffled. “Stay with you, too. Just…”

Keith felt the air lodge in his lungs. “I’m jealous. Until Shiro, I never had anyone to miss before.” He tentatively pulled Lance to him, pulled him down so he could put his chin on Lance’s shoulder and wrap his arms around him in a hug. “And it’s okay that you miss them, too. I want to meet them.” Keith took a deep breath. “We’ll figure something out. Okay?”

Lance chuckled, drily. “After we deal with the evil universal Empire, right?”

“Right.”

The hug lasted a few more seconds, and Keith chuckled when he realized that Lance had nearly fallen asleep. “No, don’t stop purring,” Lance groaned, burying his face there again. “Feels like I’m listening to some good ASMR.”

Keith snorted.

~*~*~*~*~

Allura murmured to herself as she passed a censor over Shiro’s body, fighting down yawns as she went.

She struggled to keep her mind focused and calm; that lack of focus was what had caused her to lose control powering the teledove earlier. Her self-loathing (nausea mixed with a feeling that her skin would never, ever be clean, that people would constantly whisper and talk, to not being able to understand why) had kept her from sleeping for most of the night, on top of a crying jag that hadn’t ended until Lance had found her on the bridge. 

She couldn’t bear it if Shiro saw her break down.

“Does it hurt?” she asked after a moment, nodding to his nose. The blood had trickled off, but Shiro himself was starting to look wan, the lines at the corners of his eyes deeper. 

“A little. I feel like someone got creative with an ice pick,” he muttered, rubbing his temples. “Add in this morning’s weird dream…”

“What dream?”

“I dreamt I was Zarkon, and I was,” he said, sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. “Well, it was really normal. I was just waking up to go to the toilet.”

“Sounds normal enough.” She started scanning his head, as Shiro rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

“I- he- stopped to look at his whelp.”

Allura stopped. “You dreamt about Akira?”

Shiro opened his head, shut it, and shook his head, looking up at Allura. “And just now, it was… almost the same. I was looking at you, and I knew you, but it was so long ago. And I think I saw… I’m not sure where it was. Just that I felt trapped.” His expression was distant. “He was… very impressed with you.”

Allura let her arms drop, peering at Shiro. “Impressed?” He sounded off. “Why would that matter?”

“You had grown up. Like- Like- I can imagine Akira, grown up, tackling a career or the next Black Paladin or being happy with his family and just… feeling proud.” He looked at her, and her stomach turned over twice, because the smile reminded her of… Alfor. His Galra hand lifted, cupping her chin as he tilted his head. “So much like your mother, but you got your spirit from your father. He felt so fiercely happy about that.”

Allura stepped away. “Stop it.” Her voice shook. Her middle twisted into knots. The tears she had put away that morning were too close to the surface again. “Shiro. Please.” 

He seemed to return to himself, and dropped his hand. “Allura, that was- I’m sorry.” He absently scratched the back of his neck, looking around, even if his eyes hadn’t fully focused. “I didn’t make to make you uncomfortable.” He sighed softly. “I just wish I had seen you grow.”

“Shiro, you are acting strange,” she said. She reached out with her magical senses, whiskers brushing the glow of his quintessence. 

He felt the same. Except for… something else. Something small, unformed, full of bright potential but-

She sputtered, and wordlessly pushed Shiro flat onto his back before dropping the sensor over his belly.

There were elevated levels of hormones that were barely present in Lance, who was, admittedly, the only other human similar enough to Shiro to compare to. She wasn’t sure what it meant. But it did seem that his womb welcomed a new guest. 

It had just implanted, barely more than a cluster of cells, but nonetheless _there_.

“Allura?” he asked, and the sense had _definitely_ come back to his eyes as he clutched at her wrist. “What-“

“Ah- Shiro… I know that you and Thace have been enjoying each other’s company,” she said, delicately, feeling fully awake now. “But had you… taken any… precautions?”

Shiro blinked at her. Opened his mouth. Closed it again. His eyes widened to the point she was afraid they might roll out of his head. “Oh. Well. Shit.”

~*~*~*~*~

Thace pushed every button, and nearly drew his sword to try bashing down the door, but stopped himself at the last moment.

They had been hard enough on doors recently. 

He managed to rig a sling for Akira by tucking him into his coveralls and tying him into place with his robe. It would keep him warm and secure for the time being.

Ziplines, he noted, were archaic and rather absurd ways to travel. But he jumped anyways, before dropping into a small shuttle that shot him through the ship and carried him to…

“Oh,” he whispered, a bit breathless, as the shuttle stopped a few body-lengths before the Red Lion.

Thace was a middle-aged Galra. He had survived almost two hundred years as a soldier for the Empire. He had conquered worlds, slain beasts and tried to hold together members of his cohort as they bled out in his arms. 

He had to resist the urge to chirp like a youngster at the sight of the beautiful robot in front of him.

“Akira,” he whispered, pulling his boy out. The little whelp was snuffling- he would be getting hungry again soon- but Thace couldn’t help but point and try to get Akira’s gaze to follow. “That’s Red. I told you her story,” he said, feeling excitement bubble up. “She favored your ancestor and she has been with your family for so long-“

And her head dropped… and Thace barely rolled out of the way just in time.

Akira, poor boy, started to wail in fear as Thace got back to his feet, hissing because he still ached from earlier.

“Now that was uncalled for,” he snapped at the Lion. “He was barely calmed down from earlier, he heard lots of scary sounds, he’s _little_ \- don’t treat a whelp like that!” he hissed, walking up to Red and smacking her on the nose.

She promptly dropped the rest of her body flat on the deck, tail curling around to twitch in an unmistakable pout.

Thace realized what he had done, cuddling Akira to try to soothe him again. “I am so sorry, little warrior, you don’t deserve this.” He had committed sacrilege, hadn’t he? Striking at one of the Lions, _scolding_ it-

The deck below him trembled, and Thace clutched Akira more tightly- and he realized what it was. The Lion was purring.

“What’s wrong?” Was it just him, or were her claws kneading the deck? They couldn’t be, right? “You are… “

He felt tears. Not real ones. Just grief. Long, old grief and pain and misery, and apology after apology rang through his mind and _none of it made sense_.

So he did the one thing he knew how to do. He knelt, gently touching the Red Lion’s muzzle again and started to pet it. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m… I’m not sure why I’m here but… I’m here.” He let himself start to purr, and was joined by Akira, who had begun gumming on his fingers. He arranged Akira to let him nurse while trying to pet the Lion.

How long he was there, purring, eventually moving into the old stories, feeling Red’s amusement at them, her spirit calming, he didn’t know. But that was how Keith found him later, holding Akira and speaking to the Lion.

“How did you get in here?” Keith asked, his eyes wide. 

Thace’s throat was sore from talking, so he had to cough before he answered.

“I think I was invited.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

_They had lost._

_Alphae was barely clinging to consciousness after the battle, feeling Red around her as so much dead weight._

_“Zarkon? Zarkon, you still there?” she asked._

_“Here.”_

_“Hey.”_

_“Hey yourself. Keira, Castor, Jaz… report.”_

_Alphae listened as one by one the rest of the team reported in._

_“What happened?”_

_“Energy is drained,” Jaz answered after a moment. “There’s nothing left.”_

_“How is that possible?” Zarkon asked._

_“That last attack, they did something… stole quintessence, I think,” Jaz said. “Green isn’t responding._ Nothing _is responding.”_

_Alphae found herself laughing as tears turned to beads that sparkled in freefall. The battle had been a disaster. And just now, too. Oh, unfair. So unfair._

_“We were betrayed,” Keira hissed. “They were waiting for us-“_

_“Does it matter now?” Al asked. “We- we’re going to run out of air and-“ she hiccupped. Death had always been a possibility, but- “I’m sorry. Oh Zarkon, I’m so sorry.”_

_“Did you get drunk on juniberry liqueur and give away our battle plans?” he asked, then snorted. “My love… no. We are not done in. We are not undone. We can pull this together and-“_

_“I’m pregnant.”_

“What? _” Keira yelped. “Al- how-“_

_“Not a Galra, sweetheart,” she retorted. “I can’t just… make it go away like you do. Just had it confirmed.”_

_“Spirits curse them,” Castor swore. “Curse them_.”

_“Sorry. Thought you should know.” She laughed again, weakly. “You’d make a good father, Zarkon. Just… before the end. I wanted you to know this would have been the luckiest kid in the universe.”_

_They all chimed in, then, laughing and hysterically coming up with stories about who would be the child’s favorite, what they would have taught the child, how they would have raised the child together-_

_They could all tell the air was running out. But having this final moment to daydream, to imagine, to mourn-_

_Alphae was the first to notice the small light streaking by Red. She couldn’t see it land, but she felt the quintessence that started to infuse the ship. Started to stir life back into the mighty Voltron’s limbs._

_“Sister, can you hear me?” came crackling through her communicator._

_“What… Foran? I thought you were-“_

_“I was.” She exhaled. “I got the medical report yesterday. You are-“_

_“Yes, but-“_

_“_ Still _are?”_

_Alphae paused. “Yes.”_

_“Tell the little one about me.”_

_“Foran? What are you-_ Foran! _”_

_“Sorry, sis. It’s all on you now. Lead ‘em well. Make ‘em proud. You can do this.”_

_More and more lights returned to Voltron. More and more energy crackled through, infusing life back where there was none. And Alphae realized exactly what Foran meant to do._

_“NO!_ FORAN!”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this was so late. This has been a busy couple of weeks! I wanted to finish up my other Voltron fic, and it mostly is. I hope you enjoy this!

_“What are you saying?” Zarkon whispered. He could feel the others, his cohort,_ their _cohort, also coming to their feet, joining Alphae as the Councilwoman spoke._

_“I believe what we have told you is quite clear,” the ancient Councilwoman said, voice rough as fresh sandpaper. Alphae, who had been listening, turned pale and swayed backwards into Zarkon, who caught her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders._

_The position had been familiar, as of late._

_“Say what you_ mean _, you old scarecrow. You don’t want me to just become Heir- you want me to leave my family! The only family I have left!” Alphae snarled, still in the circle of Zarkon’s arms._

 _And together the Paladins_ growled, _Kiera almost snarling before Zarkon hushed them._

 _“We want you to take your place,_ properly _,” the councilwoman said. “That means showing the proper decorum. No more of this- silly- right arm of Voltron nonsense. Your sister did her duty for Altea. Why should you do any less?”_

_Zarkon knew that the words were hollow, without true feeling behind her, but he felt Al flinch like she had been struck._

_It had been barely ten quintents since Foran had sacrificed herself, giving Voltron the second wind she needed to revive, to turn the tide and rally their surviving allies to turn the tide. They had victory, even if the cost had been dear._

_His beloved had been shaken, deeply, by Foran’s sacrifice. Her words, asking Alphae to tell their future child about Foran… That Foran had decided to die instead of retreating had left a wound in her heart that Zarkon couldn’t soothe or mend, and their entire cohort, soon to be pride, grieved along with her._

_“If you didn’t notice, I_ did _my duty. Voltron brought us victory,” Al retorted after a moment. “Without Voltron, our fleets would have been lost.”_

_“After you flew into a trap,” a different council member muttered. The rest of the Paladins stirred; obviously angry at this accusation._

_“We flew into a trap because of poor intel. And that is beside the point,” Jaz piped up. He was one of the more unusual Galra-bloods that Zarkon had ever met, crossed with an Olkari. He lacked the power to manipulate matter that his dam had, but he more than made up with sheer brilliance when it came to using and employing tech. “The point is that there should be others you can call on for this role.”_

_Al flinched again._

_“There are cadet branches of the family, but there are not more than a handful of Sacred Alteans left,” the same old crusty council woman replied. “And most of them are trying to find our scattered forces.”_

_“Grand Council Ashara,” Al said, giving Zarkon’s hand a squeeze. “I am not, and can never be, a suitable candidate for Heir. That is because-“_

_Whatever words she might have said were cut off, as a deep gong peeled through the vast Royal Council chamber… and an ancient female Altean, dressed in elaborate robes and leaning on the arm of a much younger Altean male with vibrant orange hair, hobbled in. The entire room had gone silent at her arrival._

_“Child,” she said, looking directly at Al. “I need to speak with you.”_

_Alphae’s face turned colors that Zarkon was sure were not natural. “Grandmother…” She looked up at him, and then at the others. Zarkon had seen her jump, gleefully, into battle against foes much larger than herself. He had seen the Red Lion charge into the fray while she whooped across the coms. He had been back to back with her on the ground in moments were all seemed lost._

_But the spark that had kept her going throughout all of it was dim, almost gone._

_“We’re with you,” he murmured, leaning down to nip her chin, stroking her jaw._

_Her lips twisted into a rictus of a smile, before nodding. She turned to leave._

_He shared a look with his cohort; Jaz was fidgeting, Kiera was already leaning to follow, and Castor was frowning deeply. He tilted his head, and together they moved to follow Alphae out._

_They had lost sight of Alphae and rushed to catch up as she walked through a door flanked by a pair of sentries. Actual, living sentries, not robots; that meant whoever was on the other side was important._

_They were blocked, of course. Their hands went for their bayards when Zarkon heard the shouting._

~*~*~*~*

_Alphae fought the urge to fidget, to pluck at her sleeves or to shift her weight from side to side. Even if she was not the Heir, she had been trained in deportment since she could walk on her own._

_And yet, after years of living with her cohort, being mated to Zarkon, immersed in her family of loud, affectionate, obnoxious Galra, it was hard to keep her feelings from her face, to keep the terror in her belly from making it curdle._

_She couldn’t feel her child yet; outside of making her hands and feet swell and sneezing fits, she had been fine._

_“Child, let me make this perfectly clear. Whatever freedoms you thought you had, they are null as of right now,” the aged Queen said, lips drawn out in a harsh line. “You cannot refuse your duty. We allowed you to join this- this silly- Voltron- nonsense, but that was merely to keep you occupied.” She paused for a breath, and Alphae went hot and cold, her head spinning with rage. “Come now. You knew that you were considered less valuable while Foran lived, and no one wanted to see a regicide. I didn’t like that she tried to marry you off, but that you would chose to mate with a beast…” Her lips curled in disgust. “Audacious. I’ll give you that. But we require an Heir. And you will either fulfill that task yourself, or you will purge yourself of your_ infestation _so that we can create the offspring Foran_ should _have sired on Haggar.” Foran’s reluctance to change her sex so that she could get a natural offspring on Haggar had been well known._

 _“_ No! _” Alphae whispered, putting her arms around her belly. “No, you can’t force me to-“_

 _“Our people are demoralized and heartsick. Without someone, or something, to rally behind, our people will fall into factions and disintegrate. The Galra have_ never _been popular. You would never have been allowed to bring that…_ thing _… to term.” Her grandmother’s scowl was pure contempt. In the background, behind her, a curtain twitched, and Alphae could see a flash of bright orange._

_“If your duty does not move you, then I can charge you with treason against the Crown, and your…cohort… will be made into fugitives. They may go back to Galra space but the sanctions on their people will be severe.” Her smile was nasty. “Trust me when I say that the other species have been itching to drive out those who pollute our blood.”_

_They would find no solace, no help if that was to happen. The Galra were ever-expanding, and they needed the help the Altean Fleet provided their ships. Hyperdrive was fast… but they were not as reliable as wormholes._

_And using Voltron to strong arm their way, was against everything Voltron stood for._

_“I will_ keep _my child,” Alphae snarled, baring her teeth. “I won’t let you lie about the heroes who saved our kingdom.” She took a deep breath. Foran had ended her life to save them all. Alphae realized she needed to sacrifice the rest of hers. “What do you propose?”_

~*~*~*~*~

Shiro licked his lips, staring up at the wall light fixtures as his mind ran on a squeaky little mouse wheel.  


“Are you all right?” Allura asked after he was silent for several moments. “Shiro?”  


He inhaled, nodded, then shook his head. “I, I, I guess I am?” He put one hand on his belly. Outside of this recent weirdness, he hadn’t felt any different. “I mean, I hadn’t planned on more so soon.” He hadn’t had a heat.

Hadn’t he?

He had been nursing Akira almost as soon as they had been reunited. That was supposed to prevent heats in Omegas. Right?

But whenever they could hand Akira off or put him in his crib, or a door closed behind them… He had been begging for Thace to pin him to whatever flat surface they could find, hungry for Thace’s touch and scent, to have his knot-

He felt his face turn red. That wasn’t a heat, right? That was just- he had missed his lover-

“We can… it’s very undeveloped,” Allura said delicately. “Talk with Thace. We can end this quickly, if you prefer.” Unsaid, was that it was the more pragmatic choice. “But if you wish to keep it, we will find a way to support you.” And behind that, was the loaded potential risk to the universe. 

He knew that Thace would support him no matter what he chose, but… Shiro sighed. “He lost… what? Eleven, twelve whelps, along with his two adult children? I don’t think-“

He stopped, looking over to see the small sensor in Allura’s hand drop through her fingers in a shower of splinters. 

“What?”

Shiro tilted his head. “Most Galra whelps don’t survive.” He frowned at the completely confused, baffled and horrified expression on her face. “You didn’t know. Only about five percent of their population is female…? The pure bloods fight so that they can get a chance to breed?” A sick feeling rose in his stomach. “None of that seems familiar to you?”

Allura shook her head frantically, ignoring the blood welling up between her fingers. “Most of it was the same as how Coran described it.” She bit back a curse, and Shiro got up to look for something to close up the injuries on her hands. “But I don’t think… what changed? Why?”

Shiro found something that resembled glue and a set of tweezers to pick out the metal. “All Thace said was…” and he trailed off. “My memory is terrible. We were talking right after Akira was born. He was small for a human cub but huge for a Galra whelp, and…” He exhaled. The memory was actually intact. Thace had said it was a curse from their ancient enemy. At the time, Shiro had paid little attention, still feeling overwhelmed and fixated on Akira who had been so tiny and new. 

He remembered thinking that it hadn’t been as bad as he had feared. Painful, yes, _terrifying_ as his body had acted outside of his control, but… He had gotten to feel Akira move inside him. He had made life, fragile and precious and _penance_ for the lives he had taken. On top of that… He had made Akira _with_ Thace. 

He finished picking out the metal and liberally poured the clear, sticky balm over the wounds. Then, on impulse, he kissed her fingers. “All better.”

~*~*~*~*~

Allura choked, air freezing in her lungs when he did that.  


“’Lura?” he asked, eyes wide. “What-“

“Nothing,” she said quickly, covering. “Just…” There had been times when she had hurt herself as a child, and gone crying to find Alfor. Only Alfor had been busy with his duties as King (and as an adult she could appreciate how much time he _had_ made for her) and Haggar… Had mostly ignored her.

Zarkon had been the shadow at the edges of her life, along with the Paladins of old. 

“Z- my father would,” and she took a deep breath, staving off her own frustrated, confused tears. “He would do that. Pick me up, patch up my injuries and press them to his face.” He had been large and warm, she remembered, carrying her tucked under his arm or on his shoulders. 

“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment.” He gave her a crooked smile. “I’m still kind of new to this whole ‘Space Dam’ thing.”

She smiled back, more baring her teeth as his eyes went distant, putting his hands over his belly. “I’m… If we’re not attacked in the next hour I’m going to talk to Thace.” He took a shaky breath as he got to his feet. 

They hadn’t found a physiological reason for his odd behavior, and he seemed to be recovering, so she let him go. 

She looked down at her hand, and then clenched it into a fist.

She remembered that other children would sometimes be pulled from playing with her. They had been different, and it had made her very confused at times. They would talk about things that had seemed perfectly natural to _them_ but…

She was female. She always _had_ been. And when others had talked about experimenting with this gender or that, or made vulgar jokes about which set they liked to wank with- she had laughed along, because what else was she to do? – she had been baffled.

She was female, sex and gender both. Being male gendered had never appealed to her, and her physiology... She had tried to bring up the topic with Haggar, a few times. But Haggar had hushed her, told her it was a mark of low breeding, genetic defect, shameful, why did you bring that up dear?  


_Come now, child, you’re the scion of a noble house. Why do you want to know? That sounds like one of those barbaric Galra._

Allura had felt strange, because the Paladins of old had been all Galra or half-breeds. Kiera had been her idol as a child- cool, confident, always ready with a quip and advice. Jaz had helped her with assignments from her tutor, sharing his love of learning with her. Castor would carry her into the kitchen to show her _real_ food, not that weird Altean mush.  
Zarkon had been a warm lap and someone she could confess her troubles to, who sparred and chased and fussed when his own duties would allow it. Until Haggar had started telling her stories of how Galra would come and steal the whelps of others species to eat them; each tale had been more graphic than the last. Galra didn’t have families, instead toms would smother whelps if they weren’t their own…

Most of the news she got was of warring Clans, and their constant internal strife. 

_See? They kill each other as if it is nothing. They expand, they devour, they roll over people like a tide…_

She took a deep breath. Given the way others had acted, odds were that the Paladins of old had known about her parentage. 

And Coran.

She _had_ to get answers. But she wasn’t sure Coran would give them to her.

She took a long look at the computer panel and brought up her own file.

~*~*~*~*~

“Another surge like that and you’ll not just lose the conduits, but probably all of the engines,” Matt muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose. They promptly slid back down.

“No idea what caused it yet?” Dad asked. He had his hands buried deep in the guts of the machine, pulling out burned and obviously useless components. He, like Matt, wasn’t quite sure about the details… but they sure as hell had more experience than anyone else (save maybe Katie) on what to do.

“The energy surge was wild,” Coran said, sliding into place, turning and slime flying off him. It had soaked through his clothes (and Matt hoped- prayed- that Altean clothing dried quickly) and was leaving a trail across the floor. “Undisciplined. It takes a lot of concentration for a sacred Altean to supply the energy needed to create a wormhole jump, and whatever caused that surge was… “ He grimaced and shrugged. “I have no idea. Allura is the last sacred Altean alive.”

“Could you back up and tell us what a sacred Altean is?” Dad murmured. “And how they’re able to power a ship?”

“Well, I suppose your species are too primitive to produce their own quintessence users, and thus outside of your puny knowledge of the universe,” Coran said, smoothing his mustache and flicking his fingers and showering them all with slime. “It might be above your tiny little brains to understand.”

Dad glanced at Matt, who rolled his eyes. “Try us.”

“Well, can’t hurt. Sacred Alteans are capable of channeling quintessence- the energy generated from life itself- from their own bodies and from other living things, planets, and stars. They can use it for mundane purposes, like opening wormholes, or to do the miraculous, like making flowers bloom, heal- any number of things.” His expression turned distant. “Before Altea’s destruction, we had a Great Tree that the Priests had kept alive for thousands upon thousands of years, by donating some of their own life to it. It was the symbol of the Royal Family.” His eyes turned misty, mouth trembling. “It was… destroyed.”

Both Holts winced. “So you’re saying they’re wizards?” Sam asked. 

“Not precisely. They didn’t use wands, but they could make things-“

“Your spaceships are powered by wizards,” Matt said. 

“There are many mystical things in the universe that defy description,” Coran said loftily. “We simply chose to employ it in a useful way. If you want to talk to true mystics, the Druids are the ones to speak with.”

Both Matt and his Dad winced again. “Pass,” Sam answered, as he finished yanking out the wiring. “So what makes a Sacred Altean?”

“Usually, the Heir and the Monarch must be one, capable of utilizing the quintessence of their selves or the world around them. Old noble families usually ran the Navigation guilds and were always vying for position to become the new Royal house. Not all of them had the ability. Allura’s family was rare in how true the ability ran. Alfor didn’t start the bulk of his training until…” He trailed off. “Well, um, Allura hadn’t been born yet but she was certainly more than a twinkle in her father’s eye, let me put it that way.”

“Usually they start younger?”

Coran nodded. “Full training takes… well, a lifetime. But no one else in the Universe could manipulate quintessence like a Sacred Altean. The ability to make wormholes and shapeshift were what made us explorers and diplomats.”

“And so the energy surge today was...?”

“Well, not like Allura. She’s been trained since she could toddle.” He shrugged. “No one else it could have come from, right?”

“Right.” Matt paused, and frowned. The other person with the Princess had been the Galra. Who had collapsed soon after. “And other species can’t do this?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

“You said that the wormholer is powered by Sacred Alteans. The Princess wasn’t able to handle herself. While we may not have sacred energy users,” Dad said, rubbing his chin. “Even us puny humans know that energy cannot be created or destroyed. She wasn’t able to do it. And you were no where nearby. Could it have been Thace?”

“What?” Coran fell down again.

“He was standing right there. He helped her up. He put her hand on the conduit, and it happened right afterwards,” Matt pointed out, frowning at his Dad. “But that doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, we’ve eliminated the impossible- the Princess was in a lot of distress at that moment- so what’s left?” Dad asked, and shrugged.

“Galra use their quintessence differently- I mean, it is possible for Druids to use Altean techniques but I’ve never seen one use a teledov-“ Coran was sputtering. “And Altean-Galra half-breeds, too, but…”

“It would explain why the conduits are so burned out, especially if it was the wrong energy type,” Matt added off-handedly. Coran was still sputtering.

“But- but- that- how-“

“I’m sure your more advanced brain will have no trouble!” Matt chirped, almost reaching up to slap Coran on the back but reminding himself that, no, he really didn’t want to be slimed. He felt like he was a ghostbuster right then. Fucking Slimer.

Coran clearly didn’t enjoy a so-called primitive being cheeky. “I’m sure Princess Allura merely had a heroic second wind.”

“Would that wind have damaged the ship?” Dad said quietly, his hands full of burned filaments.

Coran went silent. 

“Well, that doesn’t answer the question of where do we go from here,” Dad went on, dropping the trash and dusting off his hands. “We need to make repairs.”

Coran deflated. “We _might_ be able to make two jumps. There are cracks in some of the teledove lenses. I can correct for those for right now. But the internal energy conduits…” He rubbed at his forehead. “Well. We’ll have a meeting after we finish assessing the damage and see.”

~*~*~*~*~

Thace was definitely feeling his age right then.

Akira was cooing to himself as Thace purred, along with Keith, both with their backs the Red Lion’s muzzle. His grandson was happily recounting an anecdote of Mayth’s time on Earth- something involving a Keith’s first time playing a sport with other children and both of his parents being very, very enthusiastic- and he was trying to focus.

But he couldn’t stop the yawn.

“I’m sorry,” Keith immediately apologized. “I- I didn’t mean to bore-“

Thace shook his head. “No- I want to hear it!” Then his jaws cracked with the force of his next yawn. When he was finished, Keith was looking at him, eyes wide, and… Oh. His teeth. “Pardon me,” Thace said, ducking his eyes in embarrassment. “I’m… not my best right now.” He went back through what Keith had just been saying, and fought the urge to smirk. “I am afraid your father got his, um, bad habit of being upset at the… ‘umpire’ honestly. Mayth entered a science competition when he was a child and…” He coughed, looking down. “The winner had a sire whose Clan was far wealthier. I may have… challenged him… afterwards.”

Keith snickered. 

“He survived,” Thace said airily. “And kept his limbs.” Keith was smiling now, and Thace adjusted Akira more comfortably. “But I do wish I had gotten to see your game.”

Keith hummed a little. Thace’s first impression of Keith had been nerves and seriousness; poor child took a great deal after Zace in that respect. Mayth hadn’t had the pressures of being an only child on him. 

“If Dad had told you about me, what would you have done?” Keith asked, tilting his head to the side. Thace leaned back into Red (who seemed to be humming, or purring, herself, just below his hearing range.) and pondered the question.  


“I would have been upset. Not about your existence. But I would have been very concerned about your safety. I was… overbearing… with Mayth. I wanted to keep him safe. He was also angered that I had continued my career as a soldier.” Thace shrugged one shoulder, and Keith winced. “To tell me of you would have meant admitting he was part of the Resistance. I… I am not sure how I would have taken that. At the time, the Empire seemed unavoidable and inevitable. Hope for something different seemed…” He exhaled. “Foolish. Submission was better than annihilation. Better to try and protect what I could.” 

Keith looked down. “Oh.”

“I would have laid down my life a dozen times to save them. But I would have done everything in my power to keep you safe, too, once I knew of you.” Thace nuzzled Akira, who had balled his fists up in his shirt as he fell asleep. “Legally I could leave you no inheritance directly, or patronage. Mayth and I would have had to be creative.” He snorted. “Of course, it would have meant revealing his connections and what he had been up to.” Thace’s ears went back. “I would have likely joined as well then, but… I don’t know.”

Keith had both of his hands clasped in front of him. “Why did you stay a soldier? I mean, you don’t seem-“ and then he clacked his teeth shut, eyes wide.

“I don’t seem what?” Thace felt his ears twitch back and forth at that.  
Keith took a deep breath. “You don’t… seem… evil.”

Thace blinked at him for several moments. “I had no particular loyalty to Zarkon, but I was loyal to my Clan, to my cohort, and to the soldiers I commanded. The Empire has been in constant expansion since its inception, and failure means three things: immediate execution, being made into fodder for the Gladiator Arena, or being directly turned over to the druids for experimentation. Our laws mean that all of those with Galra blood must serve for a period of a decafeed. I returned to the military because it meant I could try to keep our losses to a minimum. He called me selfish for it. He wasn’t wrong.”

Keith’s shoulders hunched forward and he looked down. “Oh.”

Thace twitched his ears. He could talk about how their Clan had once been large, prosperous, and then slain down to a single unborn litter because of one member daring to write down the family history that extended before the Empire. Or the first time he had ordered his troops to retreat and then made to perform the executions himself, despite pulling off a victory. Or that he had been forced to watch, with the other Commanders, the complete decimation of a planet’s ecosystem to purge dissidents.  
_Ah, your eldest was removed from that campaign, wasn’t he? How fortunate for you._

“I’ve done things that were terrible, and cruel. I was a Galra soldier. I know that what we were doing was evil. I’ve made choices that were worse.” He looked down at Akira, pulling him close. 

Keith exhaled slowly. “What would you do now?”

“It sounds like Mayth and I have something in common. We both found strong feelings for small, strong humans who gave reasons to change our outlook. Mayth betrayed his mission by staying with you, and I was willing to fight for something I had thought a fool’s hope,” Thace said, and sighed. 

“I think you would have liked Mom,” Keith said after a moment. “Dad called her his ‘little bird.’”

And Thace let out a startled, bright laugh, covering his face as his shoulders shook. “Did he, now?”

Keith nodded. 

“Did either of them know Shiro?” he asked, curious. After all, it wasn’t like his life hadn’t already been full of odd coincidences. 

Keith shook his head. “I met Shiro when I was…” He shifted his weight. “I had been very angry. About Mom dying and Dad leaving. Not being able to talk to anyone about… being different. I got into trouble. My foster parents were trying but…” He shrugged again. “They put me in a program that matched you with an older teen to act as a role model. Shiro was…”

“Shiro?” Thace said, after Keith trailed off. “Gentle and kind, awkward and virtuous, and otherwise someone that is very easy to respect and love?”

Keith’s face reddened as he nodded. “Yes.”

Thace tried not to smile. “Beautiful?”

Keith sputtered and covered his face with his hands. “Don’t!” Thace stopped teasing, and Keith grimaced. “I got over my crush after seeing him take dare to eat a cheese mold. He’s a brother to me.”

“I’d just say you had good taste.”

Keith snorted. Thace opened his mouth to start teasing him about the Blue Paladin, but Keith seemed to be following his thoughts and reached out to pet Akira’s small head, scratching behind his ears as distraction. 

“I was talking to Allura this morning, and she asked me if I ever thought about undoing what Dad did, if I could. Make myself look like, well, an actual half breed instead of human.” Akira cooed in surprise, his eyes opening to look at Keith, and grabbing his finger. “I’m considering it.”

Thace blinked. “What caused this?” he asked carefully. 

“I’m tired of hiding half of who I am.” He gently rubbed Akira’s small fingers. “I had to do it ever since Mom died, and Dad left. And Dad, he died trying to protect Earth. Galra aren’t all bad, or selfish.” He looked up at Thace and smiled, and Thace’s chest clenched. 

“You don’t have to look like a Galra for me, or anyone else, to know that you are your father’s son,” Thace offered. “You have the best any of us could have given you already.”

Keith’s face rapidly turned red, eyes glassy, before turning away and sniffling. Akira made a concerned noise, and Thace quickly offered the whelp to Keith, who took him with a startled laugh. “You’re making him worry. Poor little warrior has already had quite a few frights today.”

Keith nodded, cuddling him close. “Would you like to see inside Red?” He reached out, and the great Lion opened her jaws, and Thace would have scrambled to his feet like a youngling except that he felt this wave of excitement and sorrow and regret and welcome and-

He swayed backwards, and his joints all screamed in protest.

“Grandfather?” Keith asked. “You okay?”

Thace shook his head. “I think I am feeling my age.”

~*~*~*~*~

Allura pursed her lips together as she tapped her fingers below the projection of her file.

The file itself mentioned nothing about her genetics, nothing about her… oddities. It was complete enough, beyond that. Mentioned everything from her first broken arm to the time her facial markings started peeling at puberty.

That had been delightfully horrid. 

But there was nothing that could be construed as proof, one way or another. Nothing that would let her know for sure.

It pained her that she might not be able to trust Coran. But he had never let her know about his mixed heritage and… She exhaled. 

How had it happened? 

Her fingers flickered through the hologram as she searched for the nanovirus and the research on it. The technology had been common enough, but its use had been entirely clandestine. Most reputable doctors would not admit to using it, and mothers who needed it were never going to say a word.

Its function was simple enough. It used the DNA of the mother to mask the Galra parent’s. Galra DNA was infamously pliable and adaptable, which was at least part of the explanation for how they were capable of cross with aliens. Not the full explanation, but it meant that the Altean scientist who created the virus had his work half done for him.  
Reversing it meant introducing a chemical agent that would cause the tiny nanobots to breakdown and the Galra parent’s DNA to assert itself. 

Allura bit her lip, fingers flashing and not allowing herself time to think about it as she ordered the fabricators to synthesize the chemical. 

She bounced on her toes, lips pressed together as she watched it start mixing, trying to breathe around the fist gripping her lungs.  
She could be completely wrong about this. After all, her childhood had been a happy one; Alfor had given her time and comfort and love. So had the Paladins of old.

So had…

She bit her lip. 

She could be completely wrong about this, and nothing would happen, and she could relax and go back to trying to save the universe with her team of odd human Paladins. Allura could laugh about her paranoia, and ignore the feeling that everything she had ever known was wrong. 

She could be right.

Clasping her hands together, she closed her eyes. She didn’t want to be right.

But soon the innocuous little bottle was sitting in front of her. She picked it up; it could easily be delivered intravenously.

She didn’t move. She could be wrong… but she could also be right. She wasn’t sure which scared her more.

She loaded the device, pressed it to her neck. 

Closed her eyes.

Then depressed the plunger.

~*~*~*~*~

“ _You did_ what, _Space Dam?_ ” Lance screeched, hands on his hips as Shiro sank into a pile of cushions on one of the sofas in the lounge.

Behind them, Pidge and Hunk had run in from the kitchen, eyes wide a Lance let out a terrified scream after that had echoed through the room. 

His shoulders came up defensively as Lance did a damn fine impersonation of an Alpha rage display- eyes wide, hackles up, arms flapping- and hugged his own chest.

“What the- Lance- what’s going on?” Hunk said, coming over and trying to put a soothing hand on his shoulder. Lance brushed him off. 

“Hey, really- Shiro, what happened?” Pidge asked and plopped herself down beside him, elbows on her knees. Shiro hoped that the guilt and discomfort weren’t _too_ obvious on his face…

“I asked him if it was possible for an Omega to get pregnant without having a heat,” he mumbled. 

Lance threw himself down to the sofa and shoved a finger into Shiro’s face. “And that can only mean one thing, you idiot! What the hell, if you knew anything about your own biology- and you came up to me and asked if _I_ was protected- the hell you-“

Shiro shrank further down. “Lance… I’m nursing…”

“And that’s bullshit! They teach that to Omegas in, like, fourth grade!” Lance said, getting to his feet again to pace. “You don’t have to have a heat to get pregnant and you wouldn’t ask _unless you were already pregnant!_ ”

Both Hunk and Pidge went silent, eyes wide and round as they turned to stare Shiro, who was covering his face with his hands. 

“What- wait- you-“ Hunk’s head tilted to the side. “Can’t have been that long-“

“I’m just… just a little bit pregnant,” Shiro mumbled through his hands. “But I thought…”

“Where did you get your information?” Lance said, starting to calm down. “You act like you never had sex-ed!”

“I did. For betas.” He wasn’t dropping his hands.

“Oh geeze.” Lance dropped. “Oh shit. Shiro. Omega heats stop when you’re feeding but they don’t always stop you from ovulating; it’s how I got some of my sisters. On top of that, man. You probably won’t have any big, Alpha-chasing heats anyways. You’ll get horny and shit but you’ve _got_ an Alpha. You don’t need to attract a mate, because you’re getting loved-up already.”

Shiro hunched over, face still in his hands, as Pidge and Hunk started babbling, mostly in disbelief, asking questions about Voltron and fighting and what they would need to do about it-  
-and that was when the sound of someone clearing their throat got their attention. Sam, Matt and Coran had just walked in.

And it was pretty obvious they had heard the whole thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any and all comments are appreciated. Right now, I need the encouragement! I don't usually ask but... yeah. I need it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have watched season 3, and honestly, I knew my headcanons on the origins of Voltron and the conflict with the Galra would get Jossed. I hope you can still enjoy reading this!

Thace realized, after a moment, that he was holding Keith’s hand.

It didn’t help that Keith was, well, about the same size of Mayth as a youngster. Zace had been the Eldest, and for the longest time, the Only, which was a terrifying position for any child. He had borne the brunt of the expectations and the pressure with grace (and Thace hoped, prayed that his son forgave him for his inexperience and shortcomings) and had rarely acted out. Mayth, on the other hand, had been a wild child, always wanting to run off and explore, even when the crowds were thick. Grabbing him by the hand or shoulders and steering had sometimes been the only way to keep him out of trouble.

“You know where you are going?” Keith asked after a moment. When they had left Red, they had taken a turn into a corridor that Keith didn’t know. The color of the lights made it hard for Thace to see easily, but the signs were pretty clear.

“It says that the elevator is that way,” he said, pointing and trying to, casually, drop Keith’s hand. (Yes, he knew Keith was an adult. But he was such a cute little tom, all spit and hiss) Keith nearly bumped into him when he did that. 

“You can read Altean?”

Thace blinked and looked down at him, then at Akira, who cooed at him. “It is,” and he squinted at the writing… which turned incomprehensible. “Maybe I’ve seen it next to the elevator.”

Keith shrugged, then fidgeted. “Dad used to take my hand like that,” he said as they continued on. “I used to try to run away, when I was a kid.” 

“Did he?” Well, it stood to reason. And Keith, while being Mayth’s only child, wouldn’t have the same pressures. “He had the same problem.”

“Once, after I got away, he sat me on his shoulders and told me that he didn’t want the changelings to get me,” Keith went on. “And he made me wear this rope on my wrist. Mom told me he had her wear it, too. His stories about the changelings were pretty scary. It usually took a story about Red for me to calm down afterwards.”

Thace winced. “I… fear I may have done the same to him.” He absently bounced Akira. “They were beautiful, lithe, with eyes like gems. But their hearts were far more hard and cold…” He didn’t realize he had slipped into his story-teller voice until he paused, and realized that both Keith and Akira were looking at him with rapt attention. He cleared his throat. The story itself lasted vargas. “Ah. To sum up: their ears were dishonest, they were jealous of our children and would come in and suck the breath of life out of their dam’s womb or their sire’s arms. But they were so beautiful that they beguiled even the Black Paladin.” 

Keith’s jaw had gone slack. “Huh.” They kept walking, and the elevator was just behind the sign Thace had seen. “Those knot-rope things..?”

Thace shrugged and took Akira’s small hand. His body suit was deep purple, and embroidered through one sleeve was an intricate red knot. “It’s meant to bind your soul to your body so it can’t be stolen.” He lifted his own sleeve. Around the cuff was the same knot, this time with black but also shot through with red. “It’s an old superstition, but…” Mirea, the dam of his second litter, hadn’t worn one. “It is reassuring, nonetheless.”

Keith let out a little shiver. “Dad’s stories were always… yeah. Mom would laugh a bit, but Dad would always get very serious about them. He really seemed to believe it.”

“My sire used to try to impress these things on me. Most of these were stories that he had been told by his dam, at the creche where he was raised.” Keith blinked at him, in surprise. “His dam was the last survivor after Agamen was slain. He was the only survivor of that litter, but she had learned her tales and passed them on.”

Keith tilted his head. “Huh. Di-” they were passing the med bay when they heard a loud crash. They ran in, calling to see who was there-

Princess Allura was on her hands and knees, hands shaking as she picked up shards of broken… something.

“Allura? You okay?”

She nodded, sharply, licking her lips as she kept working. “I’m sorry for the noise,” she muttered. Her hands were shaking as she worked. “I- I was startled and I broke it.” 

“Broke what?” Keith asked, and both he and Thace knelt down to help her pick things up. 

“Ah. The holo-projector. I was very startled,” she repeated. Thace looked up at her, frowning. 

She wasn’t injured; given how many pieces the projector was in, was good. But there were a deep set of scratched over her nose and right eye that hadn’t been there before. “Did you trip and fall into it?”

She jerked back. “What?”

“You’ve hurt,” Keith said. He was looking at her as well. Akira started to squirm. “And we better get that fixed up because Akira does _not_ like the smell of blood.”

The Princess sniffed, loudly, and nodded. “I have some salve over here.” But Thace beat her to it, and put Akira in Keith’s arms, who went happily. Keith smiled and covered Akira’s eyes, before pulling his hand back. 

Akira did a full body jerk in startlement, lips twitching in a breathy not-laugh as Keith did it again.

The Princess tried to take the salve, but Thace gave her The Look. It was one he had perfected over decafebes of raising whelps, training cadets, and dealing with Zarkon’s toadies. Shiro used it instinctively, but Thace was a master. Allura went still instantly as he applied the medicine to her face. It sealed the scratches and made them look less-

Spirits of the Lions, her face had just turned purple.

Now he reared back, scrambling away in surprise. “Princess- what are you-”

She grew for a moment, before reversing, and she laughed sheepishly. “Ah, that was- um, yes. It’s an Altean… thing. A reaction to pain and, and being startled. You saw it before.”

And yes. Yes he had. He coughed, sheepishly. “Keith and I were discussing, some, ah, Galra folk tales before coming in. The Castle feels like a place where those changelings might live.”

Allura tilted her head. “Changelings?” He got back to his feet and finished applying the salve to her face. “That’s not a story I’m familiar with.”

“Soul-sucking changelings with dishonest ears. They’re pretty creepy,” Keith volunteered. Thace put up the salve and together they finished cleaning up the mess. 

“I was told a lot of old stories by … my father,” Allura said softly. “That wasn’t one of them. He rather liked tales of swashbuckling nomads who traveled the stars.” She sounded distant.

“I would like to hear them,” Thace offered. “New tales are a rarity anymore.”

Allura swallowed. “Maybe later. I… need… to go find a toilet.” She looked unsteady on her feet, her chest and lips twitching and jerking. “Excuse-” her shoulders twitched again before she ran to a sink embedded in a wall, and fell to her knees as she retched.

Both of them walked over. The mess was-

Keith turned away. “Oh geeze.”

Thace patted his shoulder. “Go take Akira to Shiro. I’ll clean this up.”

Keith lifted an eyebrow. 

“I’ve dealt with this kind of thing before. Many times. Send Coran if he’s done being slippery.” He shooed Keith off. 

“That isn’t-” she threw up again. “Necessary. I’m fine.”

He turned to her, looking at the thick slime that covered the bottom of the sink. “Did Hunk’s cooking not sit well with you?”

She laughed, a little hysterically. “I would not expect you to,” and she threw up again. “To understand.” Thace searched around, before finding a small bowl. He filled it with water. “I am… I am fine. I promise you.” She was sweating. Not as bad as Coran had earlier, but it was substantial. 

He rubbed her back. “Do you truly wish to be left alone?” He put one paw to her forehead to ascertain her temperature. “You do not seem overly warm for a small species.”

Despite herself, Allura chuckled, weakly. She was, quite literally, an odd shade of purple-gray at that moment, different from the odd gray goo that had come from her mouth. A yellow nictitating membrane had flicked over her eye before pulling back, revealing sclera that had turned yellow as his own. “Is a symptom of your illness that you cannot keep your form?”

“Yes. Yes, of course,” she answered. “But… but it should pass soon. I’ll be alright.” She went limp, and Thace… started purring, and kept rubbing her back. He had learned, much to his chagrin, that children did not like being caught out on a lie when the matter was important to them. 

“I will take you at your word,” he instead answered. She seemed to be fighting her form, struggling to resume her correct one. “Shall I go now?”

She made a small sound, like a wounded bird, and Thace privately decided he wouldn’t go because she looked small and vulnerable even if she probably break him over his knee. 

“No.” She kept shaking. “Don’t.” She sighed. “Just… please don’t tell the others.”

“Keith knows.”

She looked down. “If he says nothing, please. Don’t.” She exhaled. “Did you ever keep something important from your sons?”

The change of topic was abrupt. “Often,” he answered. “I was asked to do terrible things in the name of the Empire. I did not wish to burden them. When Mayth found out, he was terribly upset. We didn’t speak for… years. Decafebes, actually. This was when I think he joined the Rebellion.”

“Why? Did you know they would hate you?”

“Zace would never have told me,” and that his son had felt to keep so much from him made his heart ache. “But I think he understood, better than Mayth, what my position was. I wanted them to be free of my sins, until they were mature enough to understand.”

“And what? Say that it was fine? What you did?” She spat the words in accusation. “That you were a monster that embraced them with bloody hands?”

“At the time, it was that we would never be free of the Empire. That fighting back was useless. There was never any hope, but I could give them care and safety as long as I could. Even if it meant my hands were stained,” he answered. 

She exhaled. Sucked in another breath. Took a swig of water and spat it out in the sink. “Parents are so... “ There were tears running down her face. “Why do they-”

“We mess up.” Thace pulled a towel out of his robe pocket; Zace tended towards getting into mud while Mayth had a delicate stomach. Experience taught him to always keep one on him as he offered her the towel to wipe her face. “All we can do is our best. If I could do it over again, I would have tried to support the Rebellion, and to be honest with them.”

She broke then, curling up on the floor and sobbing into her knees. Thace stared, helplessly- she had offered him nothing but scorn- but he grimaced at her sounds tore at his heart. 

Sendak had called him an old wet nurse more than once. Sitting down, he pulled Allura close, and she curled up tighter, before striking out, hitting his chest. “Why? Just- why did they lie to me? My whole life- why-”

He felt one of his ribs crack, but not break completely. “I don’t know,” he answered, trying not to wheeze. He had full confidence that he would not expire before her crying stopped, even if she hit him again. And she did, shrieking in anger, swearing at the Galra, crying that this explained it, it explained _everything_ -

“Shhh,” he whispered, rocking her back and forth. “Everything will be fine.” Perhaps a lie. He didn’t know. He had absolutely no idea what this was about, but he recognized a whelp feeling lost and confused and angry. “You are safe. Your are home in your pride, in your den, little queen. You are loved here.”

Her tears wet the front of his coveralls as he held her- before she tried to claw at her own face again- and he grabbed her hands, balling them into fists. “Shhh- shhh- no, little queen. You don’t have to do that-”

“I’m a monster, Thace.” Her forehead hit his chest. “I’m a monster.”

“A monster earns that title through their actions, little queen. You have done nothing to warrant that title.” Deep breath, ouch, don’t do that again. “You have proven that you are strong, and kind. Your pride believes in your worth. And I am monster enough to recognize another… which you are not.” He purred harder, putting one hand on the back of her neck-

And to his surprise, she went limp in kitten reflex. Well. 

“Shhhh…”

He rocked her, for several long moments, until her sniffles subsided, the towel was a disgusting mess and he had pulled out two clean cloth diapers for her to use. “I’m so sorry,” she said after a few dobashes. “You must think me…”

“I demolished my living quarters after finding out who had been responsible, even tangentially, to my sons’ deaths. Mourning can make us do bizarre things, Princess. I am not upset,” and he tried to contain the hiss as he stretched his ribs. “Will you be all right?” He kept petting her.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” she answered. “I… discovered something. And the news has shaken me.” She didn’t move from where she had pressed her face to Thace’s chest. “Did you know that most of the Paladins of Old were Galra?” She rubbed her cheek against him. “They half raised me. When the war started, it was so hard to believe that your people had turned on us. They had been my family. My pride, as a child. But then my- my- step mother, would tell me stories of your people. Toms killing whelps that belonged to rivals. Eating your dead. Just. Horrible. Then the war started and…”

“It confirmed everything.” He wasn’t sure what this was about. Possibly adjusting to that a Galra was in their midst, and not killing them in their beds, or that Keith, and her old retainer, both had Galra blood. Possibly even seeing Akira as someone innocent and helpless. He didn’t know. “Keith has asked why I am not evil. I can’t say that I’m not. Evil is something you do, not who you are. So yes, I have done evil. My people have done much.”

She twisted, finally pulling away. “Thank you.” She looked better, more her natural brown shade, though the pink was a bit off. 

“I am not your father, but if I was, I would be quite proud of you.” He let himself smile, and leaned in to touch faces, rubbing her cheeks with his thumbs. “I hope that Shiro is amiable to a daughter in the future.”

Allura sniffled, and got to her feet, helping Thace up and noticing his wince. “Did I hurt you?”

“It’s nothing.” She was caught up in her own troubles to take his words at face value.

“Oh, and speaking of daughters… ah. Let’s find Shiro, shall we? I take it he hadn’t found you yet?”

Thace tilted his ears. “No?”

A small smile appeared on her face. “Come on.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Well, look at the new big brother!” Keith heard Lance coo as soon as he came into the room.

He had been forced to take a detour- a messy, poopy, stinky detour that involved Akira wiggling wildly while he changed a really gross diaper in Shiro’s and Grandfather’s quarters, crying as soon as his clothes were back on, demanding snuggles and a quick story to get calm again (and clean his hands, like, a lot) - before going to find the others.

“My parents are dead,” Keith answered, as Lance put out his hands before Shiro could take his son. “How can I-”

“Oh, he wasn’t talking to you,” Hunk interrupted. “He was talking to Akira.”

“And he’s going to love it!” Lance said as he bounced the baby. “You two are going to be so close you’ll be practically twins! You’ll be such a good big brother, yes you will! Wheee!” he tossed Akira over his head, to Akira’s delighted squeals.

“Lance!” Keith looked up at Shiro as Lance’s words processed. “That’s not- let _me_ -” Big brother. Akira. That meant-

“Shiro?” he asked, tilting his head ot the side. “Are you-”and Shiro side, palming his face and curving his metal arm around his waist. 

“Yes. Just found out,” he said, sheepishly. “From what Allura said, I’m only a few days along. And you have to promise to let me tell Thace.”

“Sure. He’ll be happy.” Shiro smiled, a little nervously at Keith’s words. “But…” Shiro put up his hand. 

“After Allura and Thace get here. But everyone, _I am telling Thace_. Understand?”

“Tell me what?” a voice called from the door. And everyone stopped and stared, because Allura looked like hell. The scratches on her face were not as livid as they had been after being coated in the salve, but her color was off. Just. Off. And if he hadn’t known better he would have said she was taller than normal. 

“Princess?” Coran asked, walking over to look at her face, looking her up and down, jaw dropping. “What happened, are you-”

“It is nothing, Coran. I do not wish to discuss it,” Allura replied, moving his hands away from her dismissively. “Rest assured, it’s fine, I’ll heal, moving on.” Coran looked like he had been slapped.

“Well, we need to discuss our next move,” Shiro said quickly, giving everyone a sharp glare. “Right? According to Coran, Sam and Matt, the teledove lenses will only last two more jumps. The wiring can only handle one.”

“So we know what we need to do first,” Sam Holt said, who was sitting next to Matt, who was looking down at his folded hands and looking depressed. 

That was weird, because- Oh. Yeah. His thing with Shiro and… Oh… _oh_ … Finding out Shiro was pregnant again and… _oh_. Oh shit. Matt walking in on Grandfather and Shiro and… He wasn’t sure if the time added up, but it was close enough that the reason Shiro had been so willing to… 

Yeah. He was going to stop thinking about that. Right now.

“And to repair the ship we need..?” Hunk asked.

“We need to replace almost all of the filaments in the energy conduits,” Coran said. The slipperies had subsided, leaving him with a glittery sheen that was blinding when he walked under a light fixture. He threw off rainbows. “But, finding something like that will be almost as hard as replacing the scaultrite lenses.”

“Options, then?” Shiro had his arms crossed and was definitely not looking at his mate, who had settled beside him. 

“We could raid an Imperial shipyard. They might have the parts we want,” Sam Holt replied. “But that’s a long shot.”

“Imperial ship designs have diverged a great deal since the Castle was built,” Allura protested, pacing back and forth and rubbing her face. “I don’t know if they would be backwards compatible.”

“Custom producing our own would take a lot of effort and jumps that we simply cannot make,” Matt. “I could probably jury rig something with Pidge, Hunk and Dad’s help, but we need materials that just aren’t on the ship.”

Coran was rubbing his chin in thought. In the background, Lance passed Akira to Pidge, who started making faces at him. “Another option would be find the Olkari.”

And Grandfather growled.

Everyone turned to him, to find him with his ears pinned back, eyes narrowed, teeth bared and looking like he wanted to spit. 

 

“Big Guy?” Shiro said quietly, taking his hand. “What’s wrong?”

“The Olkari are a valid option,” he barked. If he had been an actual cat, his tail would have been thrashing. “But, they were conquered almost a century ago.”

“And you’re so upset because..?” Hunk asked. “I mean, I think it's a bad thing, but you’re Galra.”

Grandfather grunted. “The entire campaign was FUBAR from the beginning.” The translators had fun with that one, giving the word for FUBAR connotations of excrement, fire, and a clown car. Somehow. Grandfather got to his feet, pacing as his jaw clacked in agitation. “The first commander for the campaign decided to throw advanced warships at a species that are effectively techomages. The Olkari are able to manipulate matter at an atomic level, literally capable of producing advanced circuitry from blocks of material. Their cities were some of the most advanced in the universe.”

“Then how were you able to conquer them?” Pidge asked. “That sounds… amazing.”

Grandfather exhaled, shoulders dropping. “If I asked you to drop your planetary defenses and to surrender your population, would you do it?”

“Just asking? No,” she said, lifting an eyebrow. “I have no obligation-”

Grandfather stepped up to Sam and drew his sword, the tip just brushing Sam’s throat. “And now?”

Pidge shared a look with Matt. “Point made.”

“The Olkari revered their scientist-king like a god. He was their most brilliant engineer. He was also a weak-willed cretin who broke under mere threat of discomfort,” Grandfather snarled, contempt dripping from his voice. “They brought,” he hesitated then, licking his lips, “an old commander out of semi-retirement, and we shifted strategy. We stopped their food shipments and trade, and landed a few kinetic strikes using small asteroids. The Olkari could have reprogrammed a missile or bomb, even from a distance. But they couldn’t alter a big piece of rock fast enough to keep it from hitting the surface.” Grandfather snorted. “We offered Lubos his old comforts in exchange for being our hostage against his own people. He folded immediately.”

Keith exchanged looks with everyone else. “Wasn’t that a good thing for you?”

Grandfather looked down, disgust covering his face. “The first commander suffered some humiliating defeats in the initial conflict. There are three punishments for failure in the Empire. Death, becoming a gladiator, or being sent to the druids.” He sucked in air, nostrils flaring as the growl in his voice deepened. “If your commander is compassionate, he will give you a choice, and have the balls to carry out the executions himself. Those who are not will send their own troops to a far, far worse fate than death.” Grandfather looked down at his palms. “That first commander acted like he still had milk teeth and his replacement had to do the job himself.”

Shiro’s eyes had widened, and the rest of the room was quiet.

“That’s barbaric,” Matt finally said. “Your commanders kill their own people?”

“Better than the humiliation of the gladiator pits, or to have your soul ripped to shreds by the druids,” Thace said dully. “And not complying means you risk not just your own punishment, but the loss of your Clan and pride.”

Matt swallowed hard. “Why do you still stick together?”

“All of the survivors and victors of that conflict were allowed to visit the queens, even if they already had offspring.” Thace shrugged. “The fear of retribution, combined with such a reward, would spur even the most reluctant soldier on.”

“So, best bet to actually get what we need is with the Olkari, but we might end up having to liberate the planet,” Shiro said after a moment, changing the subject. “The lenses?”

“Scaultrite is one of the rarest things in the universe, but I think we could get some if we go to one of the Unilu swap moons-” Coran began.

“No, absolutely not,” Allura said. “The last time you went, those space pirates took you for everything you had!” She got taller as she spoke, before shrinking herself back down. 

“Who are these people?” Lance asked. “Sounds pretty cool.”

Coran’s face lit up. “The Unilu were traders and pirates that roamed the galaxies and dealt in black market goods. Umvy spice, by-tor water, little bottles of infinity vapor. Of course, you had to bargain. No one could bargain like the Unilu. Last time, I ended up giving away three quarters of my shipment of lango in exchange for a used pogo oscillator.”

Allura was palming her face. “F-father was not pleased.”

And Grandfather cleared his throat. Loudly.

“Yes?”

“What’s the coordinates of these swap moons? Because I haven’t heard of any space pirates actually attacking ships in generations,” he said, sitting down next to Shiro again. “Most were hunted down. Though I have heard of the Unilu and their, ah, hoarding.”

Coran’s eyes turned watery as he punched in the coordinates on a wall display, letting it come up.

“There’s a shopping center there now,” Grandfather said, before punching something in, and it brought up something that looked like a website. He tapped something else and brought up lines of Galra script. “But they do have an Unilu shop. It might still be worth going.”

Coran made noises. Grandfather shrugged at him. Pidge adjusted her glasses. Hunk smiled, and he was holding Akira right then. “Nice. Good to have someone with _modern_ intel.”

Coran made more noises.

“We could split up?” Pidge suggested. “It might save time.”

“We’ll probably need Voltron to take the Olkari homeworld,” Shiro said, frowning. “I don’t like dividing our forces, especially when we don’t know how many jumps we can actually do. We’ll head there first, and then to the space mall. Sound good?”

There were nods all around. But no one got up to move. In fact, everyone stopped to look at Shiro, except for Grandfather, who was looking at everyone and then back to Shiro and back at them. 

“We need to move, people,” Shiro said. 

They refused to budge. “Space Dam, you gotta take your medicine. And would you deny us the drama?” Lance said. “And we’re all happy for you. Really.”

Grandfather was looking confused. “Shiro? What’s wrong?” In the background, Pidge, Hunk and were waving their hands around. Keith caught his eye and nodded, encouragingly. 

Shiro sighed. “I had wanted some privacy-”

“I love you like a brother, Shiro, but I know you won’t say a thing otherwise,” Keith replied. “You’d put it off.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “It’s really too soon.”

Grandfather’s ears were flicking back and forth. “What is happening?” He could hear Grandfather’s voice getting higher, more concerned, as he spoke. Shiro put his hands over one of Grandfather’s paws, and squeezed it. Took a deep breath, and gestured for Grandfather to lean down. 

Cupping his hands around Grandfather’s ear, Shiro whispered, too softly for anyone else to hear. Everyone else in the room held their breath.

Grandfather’s eyes went huge, taking up half of his face as his jaw went slack. He pulled back, staring into Shiro’s eyes and grasping his hands. Shiro nodded, and half smiled, shrugging. “I can’t turn it off.”

Keith jerked as Grandfather leaned down, gripping Shiro’s chin with his teeth, breathing hard and leaving deep pricks on his chin, then pressed their faces together. Shiro was still whispering to him, murmurs of ‘yeah, early, but we did want more, are you okay with this? I’m surprised too-”

There was a sound of ripping cloth as Grandfather ripped his sleeve free, and put it on Shiro’s flesh arm. Shiro blinked at it, an odd smile crossing his face before he leaned in to hug him- earning a loud, pained grunt and Shiro pulling away before touching his face.

Keith swallowed, remembering his Dad checking his wrist to make sure it was there when they went outside.

There was movement out of the corner of his eye, as he saw Allura leave the room. Coran followed soon after.

~*~*~*~*~

Allura was halfway back to her quarters when Coran caught up with her.

“Princess!” he called, and she almost didn’t stop. 

Coran had to have known. He had to have known she wasn’t pure Altean, that she was Zarkon’s bastard whelp. That what she had been told her life had been… if not untrue, then an exaggeration.  
That the reason Haggar had been cold to her was because she wasn’t Haggar’s daughter.

“We should be getting ready for our trip to Olkarion,” she stated, not looking back at him. 

“Well, yes, but I was more concerned about your face? What happened?”

Allura’s fists clenched. “I saw something that I didn’t like… and fell. I’ll be fine, Coran. Do not concern yourself with me.”

Coran put one hand on her shoulder. “I’m concerned, Princess. You know you can talk to me, about anything.”

“Can I?” her voice cracked. She let herself relax, unclenching, returning to what _should_ have been her default state her whole life. She grew, towering over Coran by a head and a half, eyes shifting to see purple reds that had never been visible to her before. She turned to him, feeling the tears well up in her eyes again. “Can I really?” she asked. “I don’t think I can trust you anymore.”

His eyes grew huge. “Allura- I- oh no. Oh _no_ , Allura, what have you done?”

~*~*~*~*~

_Alphae’s, no,_ Alfor’s _, child was a freak._

_A normal Altean child would not have a single set of sexual organs, instead have a cloaca that housed both. Scans had come back saying that she completely lacked anything resembling a male tract inside her. This was not unheard of in half-breeds, but._

_Haggar shuddered._

_She stood over the cradle, silently, as the pillow talk in the next room subsided from four voices to two, then to none as they drifted into sleep._

_She remembered Alfor’s face in her vision, looking down at this child, as if the one she held, the one she knew she would be forced to hold, didn’t exist. Didn’t matter._

_Maybe she deserved this. Instead of embracing the time she had with Foran, she had squandered part of it on trying to stop a fate she knew could not be changed. Destiny would find a way._

_She passed one hand over Allura’s crib._

_An innocent, but certainly disposable. Galra half-breeds were all sins against the natural order. She brushed her hand over the babe’s soft cheeks, wispy white hair, and sparkly little soul. It was clear that she was of Foran’s blood, even if that blood was polluted. Her quintessence glowed incandescent to her senses. All of that power. All of that life-_

_“What are you doing?” a deep voice hissed, and Haggar looked up to see a large figure walk into the nursery from the other room. The giant Galra, Zarkon, was standing there. No shirt, loose, flowing trousers and shoeless; the talons of his toes scratched the polished metal floors as he walked._

_“I am checking that the child sleeps, like a good mother should,” Haggar answered. “And by what right are you here?”_

_“Step back,” he threatened, coming forward and pushing her, muscling his way between her and the infant. “I’ll not have you harming her.”_

_“You are nothing but a beast,” she whispered. “Do you have any idea who you are talking to?” Her hand glowed, and she let it drift up towards his face, searching for the unfinished edges, for the frayed ends of his spirit, to grab and tug, to show him who he was dealing with. But then she frowned, because she could find nothing to twist, nothing to grab-_

_And his eyes widened as he looked down at his wrist, at an oddly knotted and twisted rope, then down at the crib again, and back at her. Without a word he snatched it off his wrist and looped it around Allura’s tiny ankle, pulling it tight, gulping air as he did so and then calling his bayard._

_Haggar drew back, and blinked. “She’s beyond your touch now, witch,” Zarkon swore. “And I will not allow you to hurt her.”_

_She reached out again. The bright light of Allura’s quintessence no longer bled into the air around her. Instead it was contained, tied off, with nothing to grab onto._

_“Indeed,” Haggar murmured. But she reached up and touched Zarkon’s face, watching him shudder, but he stayed between her and the crib. Now the rough edges, the weak places in his spirit was open, bare, and she sank her fingers deep._

_“But you are not.”_

_She withdrew, tugging the smallest thread free. “How interesting.” The violation on his face was just_ precious _. “Goodnight, Zarkon.”_

_Goodnight, indeed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season 3 thoughts:
> 
>  
> 
> Oh god my HEART. MY HEART. Poor Shiro.


	8. Chapter 8

“Oh, Allura,” Coran whispered, eyes wide and glimmering. “Why have you-“

“Why? Why wouldn’t I? It was the only way I could have gotten any honest answers!” she spat, advancing towards him, fists up and leaning forward. Her teeth were bared as she reared one fist back and…

Stopped herself.

“You knew. You had to know that I’m,” and her lips twisted as she struggled to say it aloud for the first time. “I’m a _Galra half-breed_.” And those words tasted like ashes in her mouth. “I’m willing to bet everyone did.” Her throat burned and her chest ached and the mice were running up her back to sit on her shoulders. “That’s why I wasn’t considered the Heir until after Lotor died.”

Coran held her eyes for a moment, before looking away. “At first it was because of politics. Your aunt, Foran, died during the war with the Others. She had been Heir. Alfor… _Alphae_ had been a wild child and had been the first non-Galra chosen as a Paladin. She and your father-“

“Zarkon,” Allura said tonelessly. “Zarkon is- was- my father.”

Coran’s jaw worked before he dipped his chin in acknowledgement. “Zarkon and Alphae met during training and fell in love. But then the war happened. It took a huge alliance to defeat the Others, and every great power at the time was reeling. Altea was in chaos. The Queen was old and knew she had little time left. So she made a drastic decision, but I can’t say it was the wrong one. She wanted Alphae to officially wed Foran’s widow and produce an Heir.”

Allura stared. “But-“

“The Queen tried to pressure Alphae into either terminating her pregnancy or to give you up, but she would have neither. So they decided that Haggar would pretend to be your mother and Alfor become your father.” Coran sighed. “Palace staff knew. Of course we did. Those of us with Galra blood did our best to keep the worst off of you. What we didn’t count on was how poorly the Queen would take it.”

“She was forced to marry F- Alfor, wasn’t she? And to care for a child not her own? How else could she take it?” Allura said. “No wonder she was so…”

“Haggar had loved Foran very much,” Coran murmured. “But she did her duty.”

Allura flinched. “No wonder she resented me.” Allura represented everything she had lost, after all.

“Oh, Allura, she didn’t resent _you_ ,” Coran protested. “She resented her situation! She-“ and he looked away, hands trembling. Coran’s eyes turned misty. “You should have known her before, Allura. She was one of the greatest members of the Royal priesthood. She was powerful, infamous for her love of pageantry and fashion, full of wit and charm and could dazzle the most hardened diplomat. I still remember her radiance on her wedding day to Princess Foran-“ he sniffled. “I was working as a majordomo at the time. They were _so much_ in love, Allura. Then she had to…”

Allura looked down at the ground. “Then she had to take care of me. I remember how she focused all of her attention on Lotor after he was born. Father-“ She closed her eyes and wobbled on her feet. “I don’t even know what to call my parents anymore. Alfor told me that newborns needed lots of attention, so that was why she no longer had time for me. That was when Zarkon and the other Paladins started to truly step in and care for me.”

And life had been good. While the other children in the castle had been difficult to interact with, she was never lonely as long as the Paladins were there. But, as with all adults… they would get busy, too. 

Allura shook it off. “But why keep it from me now? Why after I grew-“

“Haggar decided to take an interest in you after a while, and suddenly you were terrified of anything to do with the Galra,” Coran said. “Zarkon was devastated, especially after Haggar used this to restrict his time with you. On top of that… well, the Galra colonies went into rapid expansion because they could simply walk into a population of levi-animo-based life forms and assimilate them. I even saw it happen a few times with dextro. Never with silicon based life, but-“ Allura was staring at him. “But. Many of these species were afraid of losing their territories, or even possible extinction as a distinct people. So they started putting pressure on Alfor. There was already strain on their relationship because they had to hide it, and this was the final straw.”

“But Alteans-“

“Mate for life, yes,” Coran said and sighed. “Your… Alphae… loved him to the day he died. I think Zarkon did too, but sometimes love isn’t enough. Zarkon wanted more children, but Alfor obviously couldn’t, anymore, so he contracted with a queen in his Clan.”

Allura licked her lips. “I had other siblings?”

Coran covered his mouth and looked away. “No, Allura. They were some of the first victims of the sterility plague we created.”

Allura felt like she had been punched in the gut. “What?” That. No. That, they couldn’t. They _wouldn’t._

Coran turned his eyes to the bulkhead. “It was the Queen’s idea, actually. She was greatly involved in the research and development. Alfor had planned to hold it in reserve, as a threat, to get the Galra to pull back.”

Allura felt her knees wobble as her shoulder hit the wall. By the Ancients. 

“The reason you were never told was because after… after that, Zarkon and the rest of the Paladins abandoned Alfor. Zarkon quickly was elected War Chief, then they abandoned their old government to make him King.” Coran’s shoulders hitched, deep lines around his eyes as he smoothed his mustache over and over again. “Once it became apparent that Zarkon wasn’t interested in finding a cure, just revenge, the other Paladins returned to aid Altea, but by then it was too little too late.”

“The whelps. Oh, Ancients,” Allura whispered. “Moth- Haggar thought of this? Why? Why was something so horrible even developed?”

“From what I understand, the original plan had been just to reduce the size of their litters. That’s it. Just have a whelp, or two, per pregnancy.” Coran laughed hysterically. “We had no idea what the truth would be.”

“Coran, how could this happen?” She felt herself sliding down as her legs gave out. “We did this, unprovoked?”

“By the Queen’s command.” Coran’s shoulders slumped. “We knew that she was… uneasy, with the Galra. None of us knew how much. Those of us who are charitable think she made a mistake. That what had been good intentions and poor testing lead to… this.”

Allura looked up at Coran from between her fingers. “And those who are not inclined to be charitable?”

“That she released it specifically to bring us to war with the Galra. Things had been tense, especially after Zarkon left Alfor. Then the reports started coming in.”

Allura covered her mouth, shoulders hitching as she fought to contain her tears.

~*~*~*~*~

Haggar sat with her legs curled under her, underneath a large canopy to block out the sun. Her first child, Lotor, was bundled in her arms as he slept.

He had been there since Nanny had returned him, freshly fed and diapered, no longer smelling noxious. Nanny was her only attendant that day, out in a juniberry field. It was a picnic meant to celebrate the birth of the new Heir. A small family gathering.

She could only look dispassionately out at Alfor as he spun Allura into the air, only for her to be snatched by Zarkon, whirled and tossed to another one of those beasts that Alfor called into his rooms and bed and…

She wrinkled her nose in disgust. 

The old Queen had come to her after the loss of Foran, telling her that the Kingdom was at stake. The peace of the moment was a thin veneer, an enamel that covered the faults and the cracks. At the moment, everyone was too tired to turn on each other. But once they recovered, the old resentments were going to surface. 

Having Alphae on the Throne would be a partial panacea. But they had to squash the rumors of her being polluted by Galra. Especially because those rumors were true. 

It had been guilt that had her agreeing to this mad plan. Guilt and despair. 

At first, she had feared that she would be pressured into joining Alfor and his menagerie to produce her child. While she could function with a new mate with Foran was gone, Alfor had needed Zarkon’s presence to function. 

It had still stung her ego that Alfor had rejected the idea out of hand. Lotor had been conceived artificially. 

She felt her face crease in a frown as Lotor whimpered in his sleep. 

The future could not be changed. 

She let her fingers trail through Lotor’s white hair. 

The rumors floating around- Haggar listened to court gossip, and had started her own- was of his fondness for the Galra. Servants, courtiers, everyone talked. Alfor wasn’t looking out for their interests, they said. He wasted all of his time with aliens. One piece of gossip, that Haggar was particularly proud of, said that Alfor was looking away as the Galra crept into their neighboring territories, stealing resources from their allies. 

It wasn’t even wrong. The war had vastly depopulated Rygnirath; the nearest Galra Clan had sent aid. And now, barely a quarter of the pouchlings born were full-blooded native Susscrofi. 

Listening to those whispers was some of the best entertainment of her day. Contributing to them… Well. It gave her purpose.

The future could not be changed. 

In her arms, Lotor started to whimper. Haggar grimaced, rocking him back and forth.

A moment later, her vision and nose was covered in a cloud of juniberries.

“Mother! Mother, I made you a new crown!” Allura said, bouncing on her toes. Haggar sputtered, pushing the flowers off of her face, only to see the child squat in front of her, lips puckered as she leaned down to kiss Haggar’s crying son.

Haggar shoved her back, making her fall on her bottom. “No, no, Allura-child,” she scolded. “You’ll make him sick.”

Allura got to her feet, shaking her head. “But he’s happy!” She picked up a juniberry flower, thrusting it into Lotor’s face. The fussing stopped, if by nothing but a sneeze, and a breathy coo followed. “He likes them!”

“They’re just flowers, Allura. He’s too young to know what they are.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I rather think that loving juniberries is something all Alteans do,” Alfor said, walking over and offering Allura a hand up. She took it, only for Alfor to pretend to overbalance and fall into the flowers. Allura pounced him, nearly jumping on his chest as the Alfor’s pet Galra came over. 

“Everyone loves them,” Zarkon said, swooping in to put Allura on his hip and pick Alfor up. “They’re so cute, after all.” He leaned down, about to nuzzle Alfor, who put his hand up at the last moment. Zarkon looked disappointed.

Alfor turned to her, kneeling down. “Want me to take over with Lotor for awhile?”

She bent her lips into a polite smile. “That won’t be necessary. I am quite capable.”

Alfor lifted an eyebrow. “Lotor is my child as well.”

The smile dropped. “I am aware.”

Alfor winced. “Come on. Want to go swimming?” He stood, then looped his arm with the female Galra. (Haggar couldn’t tell them apart, sometimes.) 

“Galra don’t swim!” the other one answered. Haggar sighed as they crossed a hill and out of sight.

She took the silly crown off her head and rubbed it against her cheek; Foran had done the same to her, once. Foran had been as overly fond of the silly things.

They were just flowers.

Lotor sneezed.

The idea had been brewing in the back of her mind for some time now. She had watched the scientists mix her cells with Alfor’s to produce Lotor. Dozens of cells had been fertilized, and only one chosen. All of that potential for life and the quintessence it produced was stored away in suspended animation at the Royal Family’s medical wing.

She could hear the menagerie chatting about Allura and how much she had grown, followed by good-natured teasing to the female when she said she wanted twenty just like Allura. All of them (Alfor included!) volunteered their services as sires. The female answered that she had a surprise for them.

Haggar frowned at that. To her disgust, she realized that they already _had_ bred her, and she could sense the faint sparks of quintessence within the female. Haggar could sense the great potential power in at least one of them: the same power inherent in all who shared Foran’s blood.

Bile rose up in her throat. 

No.

Not another pretender. Not another abomination, a fake Altean, some other freak she might have to pretend to embrace. Foran’s life should have been more dear than _this_.

One by one the tiny sparks went out as she reached in, pinching them between her fingers. They sputtered, briefly, spilling quintessence that she lapped up like juice. 

The taste was sweet. 

A loud splash interrupted the chatter, followed by surprised shouts. Haggar got to her feet, arching her brows in concern as she looked to see the female, face down in the water. The others, including Alfor, were dragging her out.

She was still holding Lotor. She called Allura to her, stroking her hair to keep her calm, even as she felt the brightness of her spirit. Even a few deca-phoebs of maturity had made her more powerful. So much more potent than the tiny sparks from before.

Amidst the cries of concern, and Alfor calling the medics, her idea grew, cemented. She had a plan. 

They were only _beasts_ , after all.

~*~*~*~*~

The plan to visit Olkarion started coming together.

Matt stood over Dad’s shoulder as he checked their report: the wiring was going to be almost completely gone by the time they arrived at the Olkari homeworld. It made going their extremely risky, but it wasn’t like they had any other choices, either. The teledov lenses were likewise in bad shape, but they could be reconfigured for a few more jumps.

Out of the corner of his eye, Matt saw Shiro and Thace, both looking up at a chart of the system. Matt tried to ignore the sight of the large Galra’s hand sitting (but closer to swallowing) on Shiro’s lower back, right hip and the top of his ass. The Galra had been hovering, with a dopey, ridiculous smile on his face that had Lance laughing like a hyena as soon as he had noticed.

He tried to ignore the realization that he might have walked in on this new ~~thing~~ offspring’s conception. That just took the fucking cake. 

And it wasn’t as if they were being all PDA everywhere. Just the small intimacies. Hands on each other’s waists, hip bumps, meeting each other’s eyes for just a moment too long. They weren’t making out, that was just because the moment was serious. He could see them being that couple everyone hated in the back of the movie theater.

“Careful, son, we don’t want your eyes to turn green,” Dad said quietly, following Matt’s gaze. They were both listening to the discussion on how they would get into the system. The Galra was displaying an impressive knowledge of the terrain, the strengths and weakness of the Galra garrison left behind to keep the planet secure. 

“I’m fine,” he answered automatically, before Dad sighed. 

“Right. And the whole ‘Shiro’s having kids with a Galra’ thing is just hunky dory with you?”

Matt averted his eyes. 

“I know it bothers you, just… they’re happy, from what I can see,” Dad went on. “Can you let it go?”

And that was the problem. Matt had the degrees to back up his brains; it wasn’t hard to figure out that the problem was his own. He had made a mistake, and he knew it, and everyone seemed okay with it. 

But. _He_ wasn’t okay with it. His head knew that he had no say in this. His head knew that it wasn’t his business, and that Shiro could do whatever the hell he wanted with his body ~~but fucking an animal and dropping little monsters~~ He shook his head to clear those thoughts. Shiro was holding his son, _Akira_ , while he spoke with his lover, _Thace_. Both of them were people. Not the monsters in armor that ripped apart his family. Thace wasn’t responsible for Shiro becoming a gladiator.

Akira was making faces and cooing, trying to get Shiro’s attention. Shiro answered by tickling his chin and humming _Aki-kun to Dada, Aki-kun to Dada_ , under his breath. Thace standing over them with his lips bent upwards.

Dad patted his shoulder, and Matt sighed.

The others came in, all of them arranging themselves. Shiro tried to hand Akira off to Thace; Akira squeaked and cooed, and Shiro shrugged as everyone around them chuckled. “Guess I’m doing the mission brief with helpful commentary,” he said with a shrug. “Isn’t that right, Aki-kun? Yes, yes it is. You’ll be doing these-” and then he stopped and cleared his throat. “So, here’s what we know.” And he nodded to Thace.

“Olkarion has been a conquered state for just under a hundred deca-phoebs,” Thace said, straightening, and pointing the projection. “The star is a cool red-dwarf star, and the planet orbits extremely close. It is in a system of four similarly sized planets, all orbiting close enough that they share dust and atmosphere when they pass each other. Olkarion is the second planet from the star. The closer one held a science outpost. The Olkari had colonized their third planet because it shared many aspects of their homeworld, though it was on the extreme outskirts of the system’s habitable zone. The fourth planet was well outside it and they had a defensive outpost there. When we conquered the system we took the outposts but didn’t destroy them. Our goal had been subjugation, not annihilation.” Thace crossed his arms, turning stony and cold.

“Is that normal?” Hunk asked. “Because, y’know-”

“It takes more resources to wipe out a civilization completely than to conquer it and install puppet governments. The issue with the Olkari is their abilities. They can subvert almost any technology by transmuting it into something else.” He grunted. “Had they been willing to make hard decisions, like sacrificing Lubos, I doubt they would have fallen.”

“Wow. How Galra of you,” Matt said, and nearly slapped a hand over his mouth as he said it. 

Thace’s eyes flicked his way. “I am. A soldier’s job is to fight and follow orders. A general’s job is to win wars. A leader’s job is to care for their people. I have been all three. There are times when a leader is more valuable than an individual, low level soldier. That is not in dispute. Leaders are what provide cohesion, direction and motivation to their people. But there is a reason we have a chain of command. His cowardice has meant generations of his people have been born into slavery.”

“Not everyone is part of your death-cult society,” Matt shot back. “Maybe they just wanted to protect the people they had.”

Thace tilted his ears. “Much of the population was able to survive due to this ruse, yes. The death toll would have been substantially higher otherwise.”

“That’s over and done with,” Keith said. “What matters is how all of this affects our mission.” He crossed his arms, looking up at the projection of the Olkari system. “Grandfather, do you know what forces remain?”

His lips twisted. “Any specific information I had is out of date. In general, I know they had a single cruiser, a dirt-side garrison with a mix of about twenty pure and half-blood soldiers, and about a hundred drones.” He looked at Matt, his Dad and his sister. “If you can hack their personnel files we may be able to learn who is in charge. I did know the Commanders personally, and the reputations of those above Lieutenant Commander. We can get a better idea of what they’ve been doing that way.”

“And the Olkari themselves?” Allura asked. “Do we know anything about them?”

“Their greatest asset was their ability to transmute machines out of raw materials.” Thace walked around to look at the projection of the planet. “The first asteroid strikes were against two of their cities. After they surrendered, we ordered the remaining cities to be evacuated and destroyed the rest to limit resistance. Most of the population scattered into the forests afterwards. So finding their leadership will involve going there.”

Katie pouted. “I wanted to see those cities. Not a nature lover.”

Matt poked her. “Remember going camping back-”

“Oh god don’t remind me. I didn’t think I would ever stop itching,” she said with a dramatic shudder.

“And who got lost and cried until someone found him?” Dad said, adjusting his glasses.

Both Holt siblings pointed at him. “I was hoping you didn’t remember,” he said with a sigh.

“So. All of their homes destroyed?” Allura asked, pressing her lips together, interrupting their moment. “Their civilization?”

Thace’s eyebrows knit together while his ears pinned to his head. “Yes. But they still live. Their fate was kinder than many others.”

Silence blanketed the bridge. “So,” Shiro said after a moment to breathe. “We take the Lions to one of the more densely forested areas and search for the resistance. Then we have to convince them that the king they have protected for almost a hundred years is a willing collaborator. Any idea why they would listen to us?”

“Well, that he’s not fought back is a pretty big indicator,” Lance offered. “Guy’s just sat there.”

“They take him out and he’s exceptionally good at whimpering on cue,” Thace muttered, palming his face. 

“You seem to know a lot. Maybe they would listen to you,” Hunk said, addressing Thace. “Come with us this time.”

“I was just about to ask,” Shiro said, leaning back into his mate, who put an arm around his shoulder, but didn’t answer. Well, not in words. His ears were twitching back and forth. “Big Guy?”

“They may believe me. Though they would not receive my presence well,” he said after a moment.

“Oh god don’t tell us you conquered them _personally_ ,” Matt snapped. Thace frowned and looked away.

“Grandfather?”

“After the first Commander made a mess, they asked me to clean up. I was semi-retired, because. Because. And they told me they would ship Zace-” Thace answered, almost stuttering before taking a long, deep breath. “Our typical strategy is to employ overwhelming force. This was not a case where force was the best solution. I learned that Lubos was a coward and employed it against his people.” He shrugged one shoulder. “It worked.”

Matt grimaced. 

“They may listen to me when I tell them what happened, as it was my plan when I found him-” and he snarled, deep and tearing “Throwing his servants, who had no weapons, between me and him. And he expected them to die protecting him!” 

“Did they?” Matt asked.

Thace fixed him with his eyes. “What do _you_ think?”

Matt was the first to look away. 

“So yes, they may listen to me. I can surrender to them.” Matt wasn’t surprised at Shiro’s swallowed gasp, neither was the yelp of ‘Grandfather!’ and ‘No no, Space Gramps!’

It was Allura though, that surprised him. “That will not be necessary.” Her lips drew into a line. “You are here as our ally. And you are also here to free _them_ as well. While we may have to… negotiate… I’m certain we can prevent you from being separated from your family.”

Shiro took Thace’s hand and squeezed it. “That was a different life.”

Thace sighed, leaning down, and Matt looked away again. He didn’t watch to watch them embrace. 

“No. It was this one. And I cannot truly atone for it,” he said, and Matt looked back to see him nuzzling Shiro’s hair. “Nor was it a mistake. I had my reasons, but when it comes to the greater good, do they excuse my actions?” He shrugged again. 

And to his surprise, again, Allura was the one who answered. “War can cause even good people,” and she stopped. Swallowed hard. Her breathing was slow. “To do heinous, despicable things. And people can make monstrous decisions without realizing their full impact at the time.” She squeezed her hands together. “Time has made me question much of what I knew. But no, you are not going to tossed aside as a peace offering.”

Matt pressed his lips together as the others chimed in their support. Keith was smiling at his grandfather, and Lance was nodding along with Hunk. Even his sister had joined in. The only person who seemed to dissent was Coran; but that was because his face was pinched as he stared at Allura. 

“Looks like you don’t get to be a martyr today, Big Guy,” Shiro joked, before straightening his shoulders. “Let’s see if we can hack their information net then go. Right?”

Nods all around.

Matt had to walk out again.

~*~*~*~*~

They were leaving in half a varga.

Thace leaned against the door of their quarters, keeping guard over Shiro and Akira while Shiro nursed their son. He was humming to himself, something about a hero whose head was made of bread. Not the strangest story he had heard in his life, surely. But offering it to others to eat?

Humans had strange myths.

He couldn’t stop the warmth in his belly and the flutter in his chest when he thought about Shiro. Brave, courageous, and absolutely amazing-

That someone so incredible had seen fit to give him _another_ child-

“You’re sparkling over there, Big Guy,” Shiro teased. “Be careful, you’ll blind Akira.”

“Oh, my apologies-” and Shiro laughed. “Is my, hm, what did Lance call it? Bling? Am I blinging?”

“ _Kira kira, pika pika_ seems more accurate, but I can tell when you think about the new bean.” He looked down at Akira, who seemed to be on the verge of drifting to sleep. “I’m glad you’re so happy about this.”

“I’m honored beyond words. Though I had thought you had no control over the process.”

“I don’t.” Akira’s eyes drifted shut, and Shiro hissed as he stopped nursing, just to gum. Thace winced in sympathy. The whelp had a bad habit of that. “But this is something I want. For both of us. I mean, two years ago if you had asked me about being a parent I would have flipped out, but I got a mate who sparkles at the idea and takes over feeding and diapers. Not so big a hardship right there.” He got a towel to wipe himself off. “You were acting pretty angry about Olkarion. You going to be okay going with us?”

“If you do not wish me to join you-” he said, straightening from the door.

“Not that at all. But it’s got you really, really upset.”

Thace wrinkled his nose. “Conquering the Olkari was seen as a capstone of my career. I came in to clean up the mess of another Commander. Not only did I do so, I managed to do get Olkari weapons designs doing it. For my victory, I was rewarded handsomely.”

Shiro frowned, then his eyes went wide. “Oh.” He looked down at Akira, who was yawning. “I see.”

Thace shrugged one shoulder. “The universe’s greatest chance of freedom ultimately comes from my conquering the Olkari. Irony in its finest form.”

Shiro sighed. “Yeah. That’s got to feel-” The door chimed, and Thace put his hand on his sword even as Shiro grinned at him for it before pulling his shirt back down.

Thace pinned his ears at Shiro, and clacked his jaw, before opening the door.

“Princess,” both Shiro and Thace said at the same time. The Altean stood there, a sad look on her face, before straightening her shoulders. 

“How can we help you?” Shiro asked, standing up and patting Akira’s backside as he carried him to changing table. 

“I…” Allura took a deep breath. “Thace. I wanted to thank you for… being patient with me. Earlier. When I was upset.”

Thace nodded, not sure where this was going. 

“I had learned something profoundly troubling about my family and I was not handling the situation well. You reminded me that. That the Galra have not always been considered our enemies and I should remember that.” She swallowed. “And my own people do not always have clean hands.” Allura pressed her lips together. “So. I remembered that your armor had been damaged when we first met you some movements ago. Have you had time to replace it?”

Thace shared a look with Shiro, before shaking his head. “Not yet, no.”

Allura nodded to herself, before picking something up that was just outside the door. It was wrapped in a blanket- no. Wrapped in a blue cloak. 

“I had this lying around. It is not the same as the Paladin armor, but it should size itself to fit you. And with it on, there is no way any of us would confuse you with one of the Galra we are fighting.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “That… that’s important.”

He took the bundle from her. She turned away as he disrobed, putting on first the under suit (and took a few moments to figure out the plumbing connection) then the boots, greaves, and finally the chest piece and shoulder pauldrons. It was white, with a tall collar like the Paladin armor, patterned in gold. 

He felt ridiculous. It was bright, ornate, and as he clipped the cloak around his shoulders, likely to get caught on everything. But Allura was right. He had nothing and the craftsmanship was solid. 

“You look good, Thace,” Shiro said, smiling as he finished diapering Akira. Allura turned back around, pursing her lips together and nodding to herself. “It suits you.”

Thace glanced at himself in the mirror. “Thank you for the gift, Princess.” He tried not choke; he didn’t hear her reply.

That was because he could have sworn another face was looking back out at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took much longer than anticipated. I had a busy summer, along with starting other stories and getting the nerve up to participate in my first big bang. So I had other things competing for my time and attention. 
> 
> If you enjoy this story, please let me know. I really, honestly need the inspiration right now. Or bug me on tumblr, which is my user name here, no caps, all smooshed at tumblr dot com. Thanks for all the feedback so far!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No. This fic ain't dead just yet. I was... put off? By seasons 4 and 5 when it came to writing. But hopefully I can get my ass in gear for awhile!

The Black Lion had shuddered, a rattle going through her frame, as both Shiro and Thace boarded her. It seemed for a moment like she might throw them apart-

Before going still, and both Shiro and Thace shared a look.

“Are you okay?” Shiro asked, heading to the pilot’s chair. His answer was a choppy nod as he took a position on Shiro’s left flank. “Not just- whatever the hell Black just did. You’ve been acting a little weird.”

“So have… no, that is not fair.” Shiro could see him palming his face out of the corner of his eye. “I miss Akira.”

‘Miss’ was mild, to say the least. Shiro had heard him give Commander Holt a laundry list of instructions, which included everything from how to change Akira’s diaper to how hot his bathwater should be, to making sure Akira had several bottles of expressed milk for when he got hungry. “I do, too. I don’t think he’s ever had to take a bottle before.”

Thace shook his head, gaze drifting down to Shiro’s body. “I want to be here, to protect you, to be by your side. Now more than ever. But in the past I had not returned to work until my sons had been weaned, in the very least.”

Shiro reached up to take his hand, feeling the huge paw engulfing his smaller one. “We’ll be back in no time, Big Guy. He’ll be fine.” 

Thace squeezed his hand. “I will not let my feelings affect the mission. I’ll take my orders from you and Keith, as necessary.”

But his eyes weren’t moving from Shiro’s belly. “I know this is dangerous. We’ll get in, get out, get this job done. And as for chain of command… Yeah. Um. Technically we should be following you, given that you outrank pretty much all of us except for Allura. And have more experience than all of us combined.” Like Shiro really needed a reminder how much older Thace was. “If you have advice, or a plan, don’t hesitate, General.”

Thace squeezed his hand again. “Aye, Black Paladin.”

~*~*~*~

“I can’t get over how awesome this is,” Katie chirped as Matt followed her into the Green Lion. “We’re going down there and we are going to liberate a planet. Together!” She raced into the cockpit, dropping into the pilot’s chair. “Look out Galra, the Holts are back in town.”

Matt chuckled, almost despite himself. “They won’t know what hit ‘em.” And Matt was happy to get off the ship. Following Katie into the Lion had been amazing itself, and watching her buzz around- she had grown so much. 

His little sister, the hero. 

Keeping the bittersweet feelings down was… harder than it should have been. Despite his best efforts with his dad, they had been unable to escape. Events had conspired to give everyone a chance at greatness. 

He felt… so frustrated. It wasn’t fair. None of what had happened to any of them- it wasn’t fair. 

But he had already gotten one good talking to, and he knew his resentment was spilling out on others. 

He was so damn happy for Katie. She had always struggled to find people who accepted her as she was. She had always struggled to accept that people _could_ like her, and take that risk. She had always been too special, too smart, and she had known it. But now, she was surrounded by people who were different, and she was willing to accept them, just as much.

She had grown up. She didn’t really need her big brother anymore, did she?

Maybe that was the problem. He _was_ useless. He was as smart as Katie, but he had watched her bounce off of Hunk more easily than he had ever bounced off of him. She got her daily teasing from Lance. If she needed advice, she had Shiro. Hell, she had Thace, who was willing to act as kindly grandfather to everyone on board the ship. 

He tried to hide the frustration and jealousy before it sent him into a tailspin. 

They were going to save a planet. He couldn’t let that get in the way. He couldn’t.

~*~*~*~*~

They sent Green to scout around Galra base.

The old General’s description of the Olkari’s cities had left Matt and Katie breathless with wonder; they were a people who could manipulate matter at an atomic level, capable of constructing almost anything they could imagine. Sure, he mentioned there were limitations. It took years to learn, and required an intimate understanding of the structure they wanted to build. An Olkari who wanted to make something with her mind would need to an engineer, a programmer, and a physicist all at the same time. It took conscious effort, physical contact, and the Olkari’s own personal calories to do. 

Matt grimaced, remembering the old General’s comment about stopping food shipments.

“This place,” Katie said, as they flew over. It was the ruins of what was a huge city, one that covered the entire coast of a continent; thousands of kilometers. They could see homes. Empty, abandoned vehicles. Debris in streets that were silent as graves. “People used to live here,” she murmured. She sounded tired. 

“Hey, they still do. They just… they just changed. They adapted.” Almost all of the Olkari life signs were coming from the forests, now. “We’ll fix this.”

Katie nodded, sniffing slightly, and Matt patted her shoulder. They were both glued to the view of the old city, as they approached the palace. 

The sight of it was… uncomfortable, to say the least. It was hard to see the graceful Olkari architecture covered with Galra brute force designs. But there did seem to be a large courtyard in the middle, and that was what they were aiming for. It meant there was a central hub they could drop a probe inside and use as way to map the facility.

“Why do you think they haven’t just wiped out the rest of the planet?” Matt said absently, crossing his arms.

“Well, Thace said it took more effort to annihilate than to subjugate,” Katie answered. 

“But those worlds still had something the Galra wanted.” Matt rocked back on his heels. “The Olkari are dangerous. What would they want-”

That was when they had seen it. 

Its sides absorbed the light, leaving a void in the afternoon sun. It was huge- bigger than the lions- and sitting in the middle of a clearing near the main compound, and what looked to be a Galra pod of some kind.

“Well. That can’t be good.”

Katie’s lips thinned. “Space Gramps said that the Olkari were great engineers,” she said slowly, and Matt nodded. 

“Why else keep super smart people around if you don’t want them to be smart for you?” Matt answered, rhetorically. He was surprised that he and his Dad hadn’t suffered the same fate.

They lingered a few more moments, trying to wring out as much information as they could from the probe, before letting the others know they were going back. 

Only for them to be given new coordinates.

When they arrived, they found the rest of team Voltron, looking… disgruntled, to say the least. 

“What happened?” There was a ring of guards around the old General. Not that Matt was too unhappy about this, but Shiro’s eyes were narrowed in a way that suggested he was a thread’s snap from violence. 

“While you were away, the Olkari tried to hack the lions,” Hunk told him, walking over. “I mean, kinda cool, but not cool. The lions fought back and nearly gave away our positions. When we got out, they tried to explain they were wanting to guide us without letting anyone know but-”

“They could have contacted us first,” Shiro said flatly. He was standing next to one of the Olkari. Given that Matt had never met one before, he couldn’t say if they were gendered or not, but his instincts all said ‘female’ right there. Her large round eyes were a little sad. 

“We apologized for that. It was not our intention to cause you distress,” she said. 

“Yeah, well, Blue is _still_ shouting in my ear about it,” Lance answered. “Could have just called us up, but no. No, just had to try and control our Lions without their permission. Real friendly of you.”

“We have not had the luxury of friendship for some time,” the Olkari said. “But we mean you no harm. We did not intent to cause so much distress.” Her lips did tighten, however. “On the other hand… I had never thought to see _you_ again,” she muttered, turning to Thace. “Come to finish what you had started?”

Thace looked down at her, and lifted an eyebrow ridge. “We already did.”

“The Olkari have _not_ been lost,” she answered vehemently, hands in the air. “We are still growing, still evolving.”

“You defeated yourselves. All I had to do was threaten your king and you were willing to give up fighting for him,” Thace stated, low and tight. “In a hundred deca-phoebs, you have kept yourself in chains by your attachment to a _relic_. But I am not here for your defeat.” He shrugged. “I am also not the commanding officer here. Speak to him.” He nodded to Shiro.

“Thanks for that, Big Guy,” Shiro muttered. He turned to Ryner. “We had begun gathering intel on the Galra base, before you interfered. We want to help liberate your world, but we also are here to ask for your help. And yes, I am the leader of Voltron.”

“Why do you need _our_ help?” Ryner asked, crossing her arms as she peered into his face.

“Our ship was heavily damaged. We don’t have the parts we need- the only people who might be able to fix it are yours,” Matt offered. 

“A favor for a favor?” 

Shiro glanced over at Matt, before meeting Ryner’s eyes and nodding. “We will drive the Galra forces away.”

“And restore our king?” Ryner asked, and Matt winced at the hope there. He saw Shiro and Thace exchange a look. Shiro lifted his own eyebrows, while Thace shook his head. 

“We can… rescue him,” Shiro said slowly. “But keep in mind. We don’t know what shape he’ll be in. But… you need him, so much?”

“He was our king,” she choked. “He gave himself up as a hostage to save us-”

Thace’s shoulders twitched this time. “I remember things differently. But we will return him.”

Shiro elbowed the old Galra. “Then let’s make a plan.”

~*~*~*~*~

The first part of the plan was pretty simple. Get in, and get the king. Pidge, Matt and Hunk, along with some Olkari engineers, were going to check out the massive cube.

The rest of them were going to bust out the king. 

Except, and this was a pretty big _except_ in Lance’s book-

“No one is holding them,” Thace muttered, standing stock still in front of a room full of cribs. The choice to go in through the family quarters, because it typically had weak security, had been pretty easy. What Lance and Shiro _hadn’t_ realized was that Space Gramps would be in complete cub withdrawal. 

There were a half-dozen little voices, some of them breathy and sleepy, others whimpering or sounding hungry. “We need to-” he took a step forward. If Shiro hadn’t grabbed his arm, Lance suspected they would have been caught with Space Gramps holding and cuddling as many could fit in his lap. 

Keith, honestly, wasn’t doing much better. “Come on, samurai,” Lance said, taking Keith’s arm. “You aren’t even a full Galra.” 

“But no one is-” Keith muttered, voice full of longing. 

“I’m sure their sitter is just in the restroom. Come on, man.”

Keith huffed, watching as his grandfather and Shiro, before moving forward to take point. Shiro, Lance noticed, was glaring at both of them. 

Lance felt a little weird.

They eased their way through, and things went smoothly, until they finally found the King. 

The room itself was fancy. The Castle was nice, but kinda plain. _This_ room reminded him of the Space Ritz. Half-eaten trays of food were scattered about, while Lubos himself watched some sort of Olkari soap-opera. One of his own people was standing beside him, a collar around his neck and shackles on his feet, dressed in that jumpsuit/ragged tunic combo that the Galra put their slaves in. 

It was… really surreal, and he glanced over in time to Thace’s jaw shudder and clack like a cat watching a tasty bird.

“King Lubos,” Shiro said, walking forward. “You’re coming with us.”

The old man jumped. “Who are you?” the old Olkari replied, peering over at Shiro. “One of the jesters I- oh by the stars,” he gasped, as Thace drew his sword. “You.” Naked loathing and fear soaked his voice. “What are _you_ doing here?”

It would have been funny. Should have been funny. For the last month or so Lance had seen Space Gramps as this sweet old guy with a thing for his hot young Omega. Seen him dote on his cub, seen him fuss over Keith, been patient and kind with everyone while they got used to having a Galra on their ship. Someone looking at him with raw terror was just strange.

Seeing barely restrained fury on Thace’s face was worse.

“Atoning for past wrongs,” Thace stated. “Address my commander.” He nodded towards Shiro, who cocked an eyebrow at him. 

“Right. We’re the Paladins of Voltron. We’re here to take you back to your people. Then let them decide your fate.”

Lance had never considered that seeing fire in someone’s eyes might be literal. But the slave beside Lubos ran towards them. “You’ll do that? You’ll let them all know what things this coward has done?”

“For betraying your people?” Keith said, and nodded. “But we gotta get out of here-”

Lubos didn’t hesitate; he smashed a panel on the side of his recliner, and the opposite wall opened to reveal a line of sentries and soldiers.

Well, shit. 

There was a moment of scrambling as Keith and Thace both closed rank in front of Shiro- Leaving Lance to dive for cover, and then to start picking off sentries- and grimacing at the two soldiers in the background who are doing the same thing.

“Hey- guys?” Shiro said, as Thace, then Keith, stole his kills. “Guys?” He stood there, spreading his hands. “GUYS?” Keith’s blade crashed into another, and Lance yelped, ducking back into cover as a stray bolt flew past his helmet. “Could you try dialing back the Alpha here?”

Thace had already smashed through another set of sentries as the door behind the original line opened- and more sentries arrived, opening fire. 

Thace and Keith both popped out their energy shields - hey, cool, Thace’s armor did the same thing- to cover Shiro. Thace went high while Keith went low, and Lance snickered- and ducked again- at the steam coming out of Shiro’s ears. 

“I’m not _that_ pregnant, guys!” Shiro snarled. “Stop-” And that was when they noticed something.

The two Galra soldiers- the flesh and blood people, not the sentries- had stopped firing. Instead, they were staring at Shiro with something like fascination and horror. “You- you brought a… a queen…” one of them choked. 

“I am not a queen,” Shiro snapped, destroying a sentry in front of him, marching up to one of them. He was holding his gun awkwardly, and Shiro grabbed the front of his armor. “Are you going to fight me or what?”

“Uh-” he tried to pull himself back, knocking free his helmet as his buddy grabbed him from behind. “We-”

Shiro froze. So did Lance- staring at the face of the soldier in front of him. 

The soldier’s head was covered in the same carapace as one of the Olkari, though his skin and eyes were almost entirely Galra. 

Lance hadn’t even considered where the family quarters had come from. 

“What’s going on here?” a harsh voice growled, as the doors opened- and a massive Galra, part of his face and his arm covered in a prosthetic, entered. 

“Sir,” the soldier said. “We. Um. These invaders-”

“Why haven’t you killed them-” he snapped, before stopping. Staring. At Thace.

“They gave you command of Olkarion,” Thace said, flatly, in disbelief. “You. Branko.”

The commander sneered. “And why not? You refused the governorship. You washed your hands of this place. While I- a proven-”

“Oh _shut up_ ,” Thace roared- and charged directly at him.

~*~*~*~*~

Being in one of the Olkari wooden mechs was beyond cool.

But _piloting_ one? That had been beyond amazing. Interfacing with a machine-

“Wanna race?” Matt had told Katie, and together they had ran the wooden mechs through the forest, howling at each other while Hunk and the other engineers kept pace. They came up on the base-

“First, we free the engineers,” Ryner told them. “We need to sabotage the cube before it becomes fully functional.”

“And… how do we get past their defenses?”

“Are they mostly automated?” Matt asked, looking down.

“The Garrison here is small,” Ryner said. “Most of the new recruits are half-breeds, or Galra who are low ranked. Their discipline tends to be weak.”

“Space Gramps would have a fit,” Katie muttered. “I can’t see him ever being anything other than disciplined.”

“Nah, he would have everyone thinking he’s so cool they’d be following him around going ‘ooh, Sempai Noticed Me!’ in a few quintants,” Hunk replied. “They would be all ship-shape and spit-polished in a day.”

“Space… gramps?” Ryner asked.

“Uh- General Thace,” Katie answered.”He. Um. Yeah. He conquered this planet, right?”

“We had kept the Galra at bay for deca-phoebs before he was sent,” Ryner said, softly. “We could not have been prepared for the cruel tactics he employed.”

Matt could almost feel Katie and Hunk wince. “He’s changed. And he didn’t have a choice to come here. They threatened his family to make him do it,” Hunk said quietly. 

“And he, along the with the rest of the Galra, destroyed most of ours,” Ryner answered. She didn’t sound angry. Just tired. 

“They killed his, too,” Pidge piped up. “They were part of the Resistance. They were discovered. He’s been helping, ever since.”

“That he would choose to help only after he has nothing left to lose says a great deal about him,” Ryner answered.

“Um. He’s got a lot to lose. He’s got a new cub, and that cub’s a half-breed,” Pidge went on. “Listen. We know you have lots of reasons to hate him. But he’s not the same person.”

“Putting a collar on a groggen-beast does not make it a pet,” Ryner said, after a few moments. “Galra do not change their nature. He’s never going to come to call.”

“Well, good thing he’s not an animal then,” Pidge muttered. “He’s a thinking person in a fucked up situation. You don’t have to forgive him. Just… just let him do his best.”

Matt grimaced. “We know that ‘just following orders’ isn’t an excuse, Katie.”

“You know I would do anything to save you or Dad or Mom.” She sounded grim. “Would you do the same for me?”

Matt opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Katie. You know I would.” He exhaled. Looked down. “Let’s just… let’s just complete the mission, okay?”

~*~*~*~*~

Red tinged Thace’s vision as soon as Bronka had entered the room.

As much as he hated a weak-willed worm like Lubos, he had understood him. The Olkari had no business being a leader. He was the best engineer of his generation but that didn’t make someone have the belly or the fiber to _lead._ He didn’t even have a great love for his own people, as he listened to him blubber about how he had done this, given away his people’s skills and blood, for the sake of his own life. 

Lubos had been put into a situation he had never prepared for or considered.

Bronka should have known better. 

Bronka was a Galra soldier. He knew the price his men would pay if he refused to pay it himself. That he had taken the easy way out- using connections to escape his rightful sentencing and leaving it in Thace’s hands as to how to deal with his soldiers- Thace would happily wash his hands in Branko’s entrails. 

In the background he could hear Keith and Lance finish off the remaining sentries. 

Two half-blood soldiers. Victory or death. Two damn fools who had probably fathered at least some of the whelps in the family wing. 

“Branko! I challenge you for command of these men!” he roared, pointing his sword at the other Galra, who sneered.

“ _General_ , you are no longer-”

“That you call me by that name speaks for itself. My _reputation_ speaks for itself,” Thace said, shifting his grip on his sword. “You are not fit for command and I will remove you from it, by taking your head.”

Branko’s red eyes narrowed. “My weapon is nearly complete. I no longer need Olkarion, or this this sniveling fool, anymore.” He lifted his wrist to his lips. “Activate the cube-”

His only answer was the sound of chaos and weapon’s fire, and Thace grinned wolfishly. “Recon was always your weakness, wasn’t it, whelpling?”

“Milk nurse,” Branko spat, before turning heel and running. 

Thace turned to Shiro, who nodded at him. “Go. We’ll follow once Lubos is secured,” Shiro told him. Thace touched Shiro’s shoulder, in thanks, before setting off. 

There was a general layout to most Galra bases, one that Thace hadn’t thought to truly experience again. Signs lit in the sigils for offices, armory-

Thace managed to duck and dodge when Branko tried to body slam him, making him skitter to the side and out the door of the facility and into a courtyard. 

Half the cube was moving, firing at all comers from the other side of a building. 

“Old man. Washed up fool. You are nothing more than a traitor to the Galra. Fathers of traitors,” Branko spat. “Sending you to the Arena was too merciful. You should have been put down like the beast you are.”

Thace brought his blade back to a ready position as Branko charged the weapons in his arm. 

“I will take control of this facility, and you will not harm another innocent.”

~*~*~*~*~

Matt came to with Katie standing over him, a tangle of vines shielding him from view.

“Matt,” she cried. “Matty- are you okay? Talk to me-”

“I’m-” god his chest ached. He looked down at himself. No blood, and all of his bones were intact. “What happened?”

“One of the cube’s beams glanced by you,” she said. “Didn’t hit but the heat and impact knocked you out.” She still wore one of the Olkari head rings. “I can’t get to Green right now.” She touched it. “You still have yours, too. Come on. Help me get control of that cube thing. It’s not taken off- I don’t think it has anti-grav yet- but it’s firing at everything.”

Matt nodded at her, and the mass of vines detangled, allowing them to see the fight around them. Matt’s stomach twisted; a good third of the engineers they had gone to rescue were lying in heaps, bodies bent like broken dolls. 

“There’s a control panel nearby- let’s go!”

~*~*~*~*~

A mere twenty deca-pheobs ago, and this would not have been a problem.

Even a few pheobs ago and Thace would have not been panting for air, struggling against his enhanced opponents.

But he had let himself go, and how he was blind on his left, from a cut dripping blood into his eye. He was out of breath because he hadn’t had a long fight since the arena, almost a deca-phoeb ago. 

He was outraged, because defeating Branko would be the deaths of these young soldiers who followed him. Again.

Branko’s false eye was cracked, though, and Thace had been able to chip away at some of prosthetics. The armor from the Princess had done its job well, absorbing blow after blow, keeping the worst of Branko’s energy attacks hemmed in. 

Physically, they were well matched. “How does it feel, to be the father of traitors?” Branko sneered. “The last member of your Clan?” He sent a blast towards Thace; Thace deflected it with his shield. “Soon there will be nothing left but half-breeds and your corpse.”

Thace growled. Akira was a half-breed, but he was as perfect a son as he could ever want. Keith, small and fierce, was more than worthy of his Clan’s name. And he wasn’t going to let this coward-

Neither Branko or Thace heard the blast coming until it rocked the building under their feet. Neither could they jump to safety.

~*~*~*~*~

“You missed, Matt!” Katie snapped. “You were supposed to hit Branko!”

Matt growled- the sounds of combat were ringing in his ears, the room was spinning, and thinking in binary was _hard_ , thank you very much.

“I know!”

“Shiro, can you come in? You need to go get Thace, over! He’s down! The building fell on top of him!” she called. “Matt, keep an eye on what’s happening?”

“Affirmative,” he grunted, using the cube to watch Thace struggle- he had managed to get his energy shield up to cover his head, but his legs were pinned. Branko, on the other hand…

Matt felt his throat close and his tongue go dry. Branko had been thrown clear, and was shaking himself free far, far faster than Thace was.

The older Galra was grunting, trying to pull himself free.

“Matt- do you see that?”

Branko was prowling towards him, like bored, amused cat. 

“Come on, Matt, you’ve got control of the guns! Shoot!”

He didn’t move. His hands were frozen as he watched, and tilted his head to the side.

“Goddamn it, Matt, he’s got a cub. Shiro and Keith love him!” she yelled, and he could hear her tears start to clog her voice. “Don’t just sit there!”

Branko was powering up the blasters in arms.

“Matt- _shoot already!_ ”

~*~*~*~*~

Shiro ran, flat out, arms and legs pumping while he gulped down air while Pidge yelled in his ear.

Branko was there. Standing over that too-still figure in royal Altean armor, gloating and victory painted on his arrogant maw. Unaware. Overconfident. Threatening the most precious person in the universe.

His beloved.

His thoughts came to a halt as his body acted, hand forming a spear, hearing the metal hum as it charged-

He heard flesh sizzle and cook as his fingers passed through armor then skin as he wrapped his hand around Branko’s heart.

Then he pulled, twisted, unable to hear his opponent’s dying gurgles as a buzzing filled his ears and he dropped to the ground as his beloved started to crawl towards him, calling his name.

_Zarkon? Zarkon, are you all right?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. This has been a long time in coming. 
> 
> One of the reasons this has taken so long is just because this chapter takes place during Greening the Cube, which is an episode I loathed. The Olkari piss me off worse than just about any other species in the Voltron universe, including the Galra, because I can't stand Elves. (Of most varieties) Just don't like the tropes associated with them, especially when people start talking about someone being closer to nature than others. I kept wanting to pound my head throughout the episode going "that's not how evolution works!" 
> 
> And the less said about Lubos, the better. 
> 
> The problem was that there were a few plot relevant things I needed them for, so I couldn't cut them out entirely. I kept coming back, getting frustrated, and stopping this chapter. With luck I can move on.
> 
> I mean, wow. Season 6 was... inspiring. Not to mention the news that came out of SDCC, which was wonderful. I had started to lose interest from seasons 4 and 5, but I'm feeling inspired. Thank you for your patience, everyone!

**Author's Note:**

> I have a definite headcanon for Shiro's mom. I see her as what's called a _hachikin_ in the Japanese dialect called Tosa-ben, which is kinda odd and obscure but it means "Woman with eight golden balls." She's brassy, bold, loves drinking and has Opinions and Takes No Shit. It is my favorite word in Tosa-ben and now, I hope yours, too.


End file.
